


Miraculous Death Note

by TwilightMaster15



Series: Miraculous Death Note [1]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, M/M, On the Run, Redemption, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-07 14:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21459532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightMaster15/pseuds/TwilightMaster15
Summary: Neither Light nor L had expected to find magical jewelry in their rooms that transform them into superheroes. But it happens, turning them into Kuroneko and Ladybug, who are supposed to work together and help the task force defeat the magical mass murderer, Kira.The problem? The task force cannot know their identities, and Light is secretly Kira.Kuroneko did not expect to fall in love with his partner, nor did L expect to develop feelings for his prime suspect. But life is full of surprises.
Relationships: Amane Misa & Yagami Light, L/Yagami Light
Series: Miraculous Death Note [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564822
Comments: 21
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1

When Light got home from school, he planned to quickly finish his homework and spend the rest of the time writing names for both today and over the next couple of weeks. This tactic was to be sure the killings would continue if he ended up with cameras in his room again or if he was hospitalized for whatever reason.

What he did not expect, however, was a small box on his desk, or for Ryuk to be laughing hysterically at the sight of it.

"My, my, is that what I think it is?" The shinigami asked, "How interesting." Curiously, Light opened the box, only to be blinded by a flash of light, and a little creature appeared. It seemed to be a tiny cat,

"What the—are you a shinigami?" He asked, and the entity looked at him,

"Shinigami? No. I'm a kwami, much more interesting, I grant powers. Yours is the power of destruction, got it? Now, do you have any cheese, I'm starving!" Light stood up, looking in the box to see a silver ring. He slipped it on,

"Alright. What's your name?"

"Plagg. Anyway, about that cheese. I'll explain more once I have that." 

Light sighed. If this thing was anything like Ryuk, it was phenomenal power at the price of food. Apples and cheese. This was manageable. 

He went downstairs and grabbed some cheese to give to the small thing. Sayu walked in,

"What's that cat thing?" Wait, others could see the kwami?! 

Plagg went limp on his shoulder, "Ah...." Light stammered, not expecting this at all. He'd assumed Plagg was like Ryuk, and only the one wearing the ring could see him, "It's a stuffed cat that Misa gave me." He said, trying to sound convincing. He would have been able to lie much better had he known ahead of time about that tiny detail. 

Fortunately, Sayu was convinced, poking the little cat, "It's so cute!"

"Yeah...anyway, I was grabbing a snack to study with. Let me know when dinner is ready, alright?" He walked back to his room and growled at the cat, "Why didn't you tell me you can be seen?!"

"You didn't ask. Now..." the cat inhaled the cheese, "Time for me to explain." 

And so, the kwami of destruction explained how the transformation worked, and how Light had unlimited cataclysm and other powers since he was eighteen. And that there was a glamor over him while transformed, which made him impossible to identify unless he did something so obvious that there were no possible other choices, or if he told someone, or detransformed in front of them.

By the end of the explanation, Light was cackling, his eyes shifting to red,

"This is perfect. What better way to be the god of the new world than to have power even without the Death Note! Plagg claws out!" He transformed and looked at himself in the mirror.

Kuroneko wore a black leather suit, with cat ears, claws on his fingers, and a belt around his waist with compartments and went down to resemble a tail as well. Additionally, he wore mid-thigh high boots and a black face mask that covered his eyebrows and his nose. His sclerae and irises were red, and his hair was messier and untamed with tints of red.

Usually, he'd be more careful, but the idea of being able to serve justice as a true god of the world was too good an opportunity to not test out even once.

It didn't take long to find a man trying to rape someone, and Kuroneko purred menacingly,

"Hello there." The rapist recoiled when he saw the glowing red eyes, "Rape is a crime, you know."

"You-You're Kira!"

"Not quite. The name's Kuroneko. Cataclysm!" He ran at the man, turning him to nothing but dust the moment his hand embued with the power of destruction made contact. 

"Impressive. Chances of being Kira are 95%." Kuroneko whirled around...

An hour earlier

L walked into his bedroom in the hotel, ready to rewatch some security footage to find _ any _ clue he could to locating Kira. He was surprised to see a small box,

"Watari," he called, "Do you know what this is?" At the older man's shrug, L frowned, "Perhaps it's Matsuda's." Watari left as L opened the box and had to look away from the bright flash, and then there was a tiny ladybug-like thing there.

"Hello!" The thing said, "You must be my new owner."

_ Chances of this being a joke are 86%. _L knew immediately, inspecting the creature, poking it. The thing giggled, before seeing his cake and flying towards it and eating some, "Hey!" 

"I'm a kwami," it said, "And my name is Tikki. It's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?" Ah, this was all a trick of Kira's to get his real name. But how had Kira found him here? Well, if he was right—who was he kidding, he was always right—about Light being Kira, that could very well explain it.

"I have no plans to reveal my true name to you. Call me L or Ryuzaki. So tell me, you're working for Kira?"

"No. I'm here to help you stop Kira." That caught L's attention. The chances of it being truly here to stop Kira was not high. Most likely, it was some sort of tracker. He went to close the box in hopes of making Tikki go away and stop eating his cake, and was bemused to find clamp-on earrings in the box.

"What are the earrings? Listening devices? Communicators?"

"They're my Miraculous," Tikki explained, "Wear them, and all you have to say is 'Tikki, spots on!' and then you will become a ladybug-themed superhero. Nobody will be able to recognize you, not even a shinigami, while transformed. The same applies to your partner, the Black Cat."

"Hm. Perhaps this would help me observe Kira myself, and the addition of superpowers may assist." He was still convinced this was a scheme of Kira's. But when would Light have gotten the chance to place these? Scratch that, when would _ anybody _ have had a chance to put these here?

"Believe what you want, but trying it out wouldn't hurt." Tikki said, "Besides, you were selected for the power of creation for a reason."

L had no idea why he was ignoring logic to put these things on, but here he was, doing just that, opening a window, "Tikki, spots on." He transformed and saw in the mirror that his outfit was basically a red black-spotted version of his standard attire, and a red mask was on his face, with black spots in a quincunx pattern, and concealing the bags under his eyes. And there was a yoyo at his hip. 

_ Odd. _ L mused, spinning the yoyo almost on instinct and then found himself flying across the city, landing right next to a cat-like man turning another man to dust. _ Must be my partner that Tikki mentioned. _

But seriously? His partner to stop Kira had a 95% chance of _ being _ Kira. What a twist of fate this was.

He then realized he had said those statistics aloud, and caught the attention of the red-eyed cat-man.

"Who are you?" He asked. L hesitated, because as much as he simply wanted to use 'L' that would reveal him if this really was Kira, or especially Light.

"Ladybug." Simple, but it worked. His supposed partner grinned,

"I'm Kuroneko."

"Huh. I thought you'd go by Kira." Kuroneko jumped to the rooftops, 

"What makes you think I'm Kira?" 

"You just killed a man who I assume was a criminal, which is a very Kira-esque thing to do." 

Kuroneko, surprisingly, just shrugged, "Or maybe rapists are something I don't put up with. I don't support Kira, per se, but I do believe that lawyers cutting deals should be a crime, and there should be harsher punishments for things such as rape." It was said so passionately that Ladybug almost believed it. Almost.

"According to my kwami, we are to work together to bring Kira to justice." Again, there was only a small flicker in his partner's eyes,

"Really? My kwami just demanded food. I suppose it makes sense that we get these to take out Kira." He sat down, "So, tell me about yourself."

"Not so fast," Ladybug said, hating the fact he had to sit normally just to be sure Kuroneko wouldn't be suspicious if he were indeed Light Yagami, "I'm still wondering if you're Kira. No way I'm telling you my name."

"No, nothing like that," Kuroneko assured, "I was actually thinking we should keep our identities a secret from even each other. The fewer people who know our identities, the better."

"Agreed. I have no plans to tell you anything. But it is going to be strange, seeing as the police know everything about the Kira Case, but we're just two civilians. Or I assume you are just a citizen."

"Right. And what are we supposed to say? 'Hi, we are two superheroes, and we need all the info'? I doubt that would work." 

"Well," Ladybug pondered, "What if we gain the trust of the city first? Bringing people to justice without killing, and maybe then we can ask for some files."

Kuroneko nodded, "Yeah. But the problem is the fact I can't exactly be gallivanting around the city at night without struggling in other parts of my life."

"True. We'll figure things out later, but for now, I feel we should return to our homes." 

"Alright." Kuroneko stood up, "Well, good night, LB." 

"Good night, Kuroneko." 

...

Light detransformed and immediately roared in rage, "PLAGG! Why didn't you tell me I would have a partner?!"

"I forgot." Plagg said nonchalantly, "Is your new lovebug ruining your plans?" Light growled in response, pulling out the Death Note and writing thirty names to calm his rage.

First L, and now Ladybug. Two intelligent nuisances, and for all he knew, the two were one and the same, but the glamor worked against him!

"It's bizarre," Ryuk said, munching on an apple, "I can't see Ladybug's name or lifespan. Now I know how you humans feel." 

Light fervently wrote more names, hoping he could get lucky, and one would turn out to be Ladybug.

When he was done, he was panting, before laughing manically,

"Ladybug...just another game of cat and mouse. I'll make him trust me, and I'll take his Miraculous and kill him without my own two hands. Creation and Destruction together have to mean Ultimate Power! I will _truly_ be the god of the new world!"


	2. Chapter 2

L watched Tikki eat with a frown on his face. The little thing needed sugar to transform. Even if that just gave them something in common, he was still bewildered as to what the kwami was and how it had ended up with him. There was only a 0.0001% chance Kira would give two youths superpowers with the purpose of catching him, so why had it come here?

It had been a couple days since getting the Miraculous, and he and Kuroneko met up every night for an hour. L actually had a slight admiration for his partner, who had a strong moral compass, even if it was a little skewed. Desiring harsher punishment for stuff like rape was something L also wanted, so he was okay with Kuroneko being neutral on the whole Kira thing.

But at least the city liked them. Kuroneko was much better at talking to people, being very charming in a way that reminded L very much of Light.

The newest update to the investigation was Light's supposed girlfriend, Misa Amane, being detained under suspicion of being the second Kira. As expected, Light was not happy about this.

The door opened, and the task force entered with Light, who was being shaken desperately, by his father.

"Light, this is insane!" Soichiro pleaded, "You have nothing to prove!"

"But...what if I am Kira?" Light asked, and L was taken aback at the slight fear in the other's voice. Sure, he suspected Light of being Kira, but the Light he knew would never straight-up confess to it, "What if I kill, and aren't conscious of it. Right before Kira appeared, I started thinking to myself that the world would be better off without criminals."

Matsuda jumped to Light's defense, "Hold on, Light...I was thinking the same thing, but that doesn't mean you're a killer."

_ Where is this coming from, Light? _ L wondered, _ I know you're Kira, but why are you admitting it? _

The conversation continued like this until L decided this was the prime time to test out his theory and had Light detained in prison. Not long after, Soichiro demanded he was held too until Light was released, and L obeyed.

L sighed, remembering last night when Kuroneko said he'd have to leave for a while. If only the cat-boy were here. His charisma might be able to get a confession out of Light that didn't seem like a hollow victory. 

Maybe Misa's detainment was the reason Light confessed, to save them both? She'd recently been going on about this being some sort of kidnapping by a stalker. While this confused him, he couldn't say he blamed her, since there were plenty of police reports of her being assaulted by stalkers. But then again, he'd made clear she was here under suspicion of being the second Kira...

But from what Light was saying, he may not be conscious of being Kira. This was very unlikely, but it was _ technically _ possible Light had some sort of undiagnosed Multiple Personality Disorder. But even then, it was almost like Kira was waving a hundred magic wands, and soon a hundred men just ceased to be. L hadn't figured out how since Kira didn't kill with a knife or gun. 

Then an idea popped into his head, one that would explain everything.

"Tikki, how many other Miraculous are there?" Tikki frowned,

"Nineteen counting the Cat and Ladybug."

"Are there any that could kill from a distance?" 

"No...well...actually..." L brightened at the idea he was onto something,

"Actually?" 

"There were two that went missing nearly two hundred years ago—the butterfly and the peacock, which both had psychic-based powers. I suppose, if used for evil, the Miraculous could cause heart attacks."

L went onto his laptop in search of more info on the Miraculous, only to find nothing, much to his disappointment. 

"What did those two look like?"

"Both brooches." Tikki replied, "One in the shape of a peacock, and the other a small purple gem." 

L left the room and ran into Matsuda, "Please check Light over to make sure he doesn't have any sort of brooch, specifically a purple gem or anything peacock related. Don't question it, just obey."

Matsuda looked at him in bemusement, "Uh...sure, L." It was clear he wanted to ask why, but also knew it wasn't a good idea to question the brilliant detective, so he just walked off to check Light.

Ten minutes later, Matsuda reported no brooches of any kind on Light, but there was a ring he said Misa had given him. Light had apparently asked to keep it. L had been reluctant, but Tikki assured there was only one Miraculous in the form of a ring, and that was the black cat. While L couldn't say he trusted Kuroneko completely, he could say he knew the cat-boy's fighting style was strictly physical, improbable that it was used as Kira. 

That and Light was quite different from Kuroneko, as he'd seen. Kuroneko was much more easygoing and didn't seem to have the start of a god-complex like Light did.

It was then that L realized. He wanted to be right, but was it worth it if Kuroneko or Light turned out to be Kira? He'd lose a friend, the first people to not shy away from his genius intellect. 

Was it really worth it?

...

Light was chilling in the cell, tied up. L had told him it had been a week, but who knew if he could trust the detective. It didn't help that his meals came at random intervals. Well...it was at least better than school lunches in the cafeteria. (And it did speak volumes that prison food was better than school food.)

He did decide that it was time for him to remove his memory of the Death Note. L wouldn't be letting him go for a while. He'd already made sure he would remember his Miraculous, just in case things went _ really _ south, and he needed to make an emergency break for it with Misa.

"Get rid of it," he muttered just quietly enough for only Plagg and Ryuk to hear. He was quite glad the kwami at least couldn't be seen or heard on camera because it made things easier when Plagg went through the prison or even the city in search of cheese. 

As the memories of the Death Note left alongside Ryuk, Light's eyes widened in confusion and fear,

_Why am I doing this?! I don't belong here!_

"Ryuzaki, I realize I was the one pushing for confinement and for you to put me in here, but I've realized something important: this whole thing's completely pointless! Because I'm not Kira," he pleaded, "You have to get me out of here!"

"Kid? You okay?" Plagg asked worriedly, not having expected as drastic a change in his owner as of the one displayed before him, corruption from the Death Note gone.

Without thinking, Light started fidgeting with the ring on his finger still, debating whether or not to transform and run. 

_ "I can't do that," _ L said through the camera, _ "I promised you that no matter what you said, I would not let you out until I was convinced you are not Kira." _

"Please, L! I wasn't thinking clearly! Do you really think a serial killer like Kira could commit those crimes without being aware of them? If I have no memory of his crimes, I'm not him!"

"I've never accepted this idea Kira's been acting without self-awareness all this time, but that doesn't change the fact all the evidence points to you being Kira. Since we imprisoned you, Kira hasn't committed a single murder." 

Light was growing desperate now, seconds away from transforming or maybe crying, "Listen, just hear me out. I swear to you, I'm not lying, you have to believe me! I am not Kira! I-I must have been framed, it's the only explanation for this!"

...

_ What's wrong with you, Light Yagami? _ L pondered, _ What you're saying is completely absurd, but for some reason, it feels believable to me. _

...

"You have to let me out!" Light was begging now, "We're wasting time!"

_ "I can't let you out yet," _ L replied after a moment.

"Damn! W-Why is this happening?"

"Kid, you're the one who asked for this." Plagg said, sitting on his owner's shoulder, "Rem said she'd kill you if you didn't save Misa, remember? Oh wait, you probably forgot that. But you're here to save your kinda-but-not-really girlfriend."

"H-Huh?" Light struggled since he was tied up, but he pulled his knees to his chest and wept.

8 days later

Matsuda ran in as L was contemplating everything he had learned in the past couple of weeks.

"I just heard!" The young detective said, happier than he probably should be, "Two weeks worth of criminals were just murdered! Did you guys already tell the chief?" Before waiting for an answer, Matsuda grabbed the communicator, "Guess what, chief! Kira started killing again!" 

L looked to where Tikki was hidden behind a pillow, also happy this lowered Light's chances of being Kira. Yet, a tad bit disturbed by the fact nearly a thousand people died yesterday (the average rate of Kira's kills being 64 criminals a day, making up for 15 days, making the number of kills yesterday 960), but it was a cause for celebration.

Soichiro was also thrilled. The poor man had been nearly feverish and insane with worry for Light. Since he'd had a heart attack from stress a little under a month ago, it had been stressful for L, at the idea of the man going down from a heart attack and them having no way of knowing if stress or Kira finished him off.

"Well, he's in the grey." L said after a moment. He really did feel bad for Light. As much as he wanted to be right about this, it had been painful in the last eight days to see Light such a mess. He also seemed to be going borderline insane, talking to himself just quietly enough that it couldn't be caught by the cameras, but loudly enough, it was clear he was talking to someone. "But we're not telling Light about this," he sent a pointed look at Matsuda, who was reaching for the communicator to Light. 

Not having the heart to go in-depth and think about it too much, he let himself go into "auto-pilot detective-mode" and spun a lie to Light about no new criminals being killed, to see if he got a confession. Just like every other conversation, Light borderline had a mental breakdown. 

So he tried Misa, who was clearly confused and even a little annoyed, but she did say something new about considering Kira, a hero for punishing the burglar that killed her parents. So that right there was a motive for her to not give away anything about Kira, but...

_ I don't understand what's going on here. _

...

"P-Plagg..." Light asked quietly, rolling around on the ground in another attempt to get his arms out from behind his back because his hands were falling asleep, "You believe me, right? Plagg, please tell me you believe me..."

"I..." Plagg was in quite the dilemma here. On the one hand, Light really was Kira, but he'd forgotten about it. On the other hand, the Light speaking to him now was pretty much innocent but was cracking as the stress weighed down on him, and a damaged Cat Miraculous wielder was a dangerous one on all accounts, "I believe you. I'll always believe you unless you abuse my power and go on a rampage."

Light eventually gave up on trying to free his arms, settling on crying in a little ball.

35 days later

The chief, Light, and Misa were all growing increasingly weak. Criminals were still dying. The task force was demanding all three captives be released since it was apparent Light and Misa wasn't the first and second Kira.

And L agreed with them. It had been painful, harrowing, to see how both Light and Misa, exceptionally Light, suffered in this time. It seemed as though Light was genuinely cracking, and had even said that if they were so sure, just to make it quick, but he had been delirious from fever at the time so that demand was taken with a grain of salt. Misa had asked the same thing a couple days in, before passing out and waking up convinced she was kidnapped by a stalker. 

Tikki had quickly been horrified when she listened to the audio and had left for a little bit because she thought she heard something in Light's words that sounded familiar. After that, she confirmed the suspect did not own either the butterfly or peacock Miraculous, and no kwami was found around him.

"I don't know what to do anymore." L lamented to the kwami, watching her eat a cookie, "The task force is convinced of Light's innocence, but a part of me is still convinced it's him. I mean, if I can transform into a ladybug hero and summon materials to my hand, and reverse Kira's nightly killings with Miraculous Ladybug if I catch it within ten minutes, it's totally possible magic is a thing. Especially if Kira's letter implying the existence of shinigami."

"That's because shinigami are a thing," Tikki confirmed, much to the horror of L, "Actually, now that I think about it, this whole thing may be caused by a death note."

"A what?" 

"A death note. It's a magical notebook that kills people after you write their name in it. But I don't know much about them. Plagg, Kuroneko's kwami, would know more. But even then, the way Light has been acting, he doesn't seem the type for a death note. Misa especially doesn't seem the type. And if that's the case, Kira is killing consciously, so nobody in their right mind would admit even a tiny hint in the way Light did."

L pondered this, "We still need a way of knowing if this 'death note' is the way Kira kills, or a Miraculous, and not just straight superpowers. That's a thing, right?"

"I don't know any cases, but I suppose it's possible. Plus, it's scarce for even one death note to appear in the human realm, but _ two _ are 0.01% odds. Again, I can't give too much insight since Plagg is the death expert."

"That's fine. I'll ask Kuroneko to ask his kwami whenever he gets back." L was a little ashamed to admit that without his partner, he felt much more uncomfortable going out, and would only stay out for a brief look around the darker parts of the city, no more than fifteen minutes. 

He then got an idea that was either genius or would break Light beyond repair. And it was endangering Yagami-san's life to the point him dying either from Kira or stress was 68%.

"Tikki, should I do it?" Tikki nuzzled in L's messy, inky black hair,

"Ask Light's Dad. If he thinks that won't damage Light too badly other than a brief scare, go for it. If not, you're the best detective in the world and can come up with something else."

Fortunately, when he convinced the chief to come to talk to him and explained the plan. Soichiro had been horrified and looked at the condition of his son. He sighed, confirming that Light was a strong kid, so this should hopefully not be the straw to break the camel's back.

"Alright then," L bowed his head, hoping fervently that the 18% chance of Light shattering wouldn't come true, "We have an execution to plan." 

3 days later

Light woke up when he was blindfolded and dragged out of his cell and thrown into a car. When he was finally given the ability to see, he was in some sort of underground garage, where his father arrived in a vehicle, and Misa came running out, with her hands tied behind her back too.

"Light!"

"Misa!" Even if their relationship was one-sided, he was still elated to see her, looking relatively unharmed. He looked up to his father, "Dad, tell me, what's all this about?"

But his father didn't answer the question, and neither listened to Misa's panicked ramblings.

"Let's go, get in the car." Light worriedly sent a look to Plagg, who was looking suspiciously at the chief.

"Kid, I think you might be needing to transform in a second."

"No, I can't, Plagg," he whispered, barely a breath, "No revealing identities, remember?'

"Oh come on, you've been on the brink of transforming and running for weeks now!"

"Quiet, Plagg." 

He got in the car with Misa, letting himself relax a bit, "I was starting to think I'd never get out of there, but it feels good to finally be cleared."

But then his father said something that changed everything.

"No...I'm afraid you two are being taken to your execution."

_ Yup! Time to run! Wait, Plagg said I needed to protect Misa, but if I use cataclysm on the car, I could very well kill her or Dad and—oh god, oh god, oh god! I didn't do anything wrong! _

"Execution?! What the hell are you talking about?! I don't understand! The killings have already stopped!"

"No. The killings never stopped." His father said firmly yet softly, but Light was mainly confused and enraged that L lied to him. And he instantly felt a pang of guilt and horror at the fact he would never see Ladybug again. Even if he did transform to get out of this, the police would know he was Kuroneko and hunt him down. Kira would never be brought to justice. 

A small part of him prayed Ladybug knew about this and could possibly stop it, but...what were the odds of that?

"Please, Dad, I'm not Kira!" 

"What kind of a father are you, anyway?!" Misa demanded, "This is your own son you're talking about!" 

"L came to this decision. Not me. And his word is absolute."

That fear turned to fury. Light saw part of the car's seat start to decay in Plagg's own rage. "You trust L...more than you trust me, your own son?" 

"We're almost there." Was the only answer, and Light was looking around for any way he could get himself and Misa safely out of this because it was clear his own father didn't love him and wasn't to be trusted. 

A dark part of his brain said to turn his own father to dust, no way of anyone being able to know the truth, but he pushed that thought away as quickly as it came, instead deciding to look at the car door. But then he noticed a camera at the front of the car. If he transformed here, L would not only become more suspicious, but his secret identity would be blown.

_ Who am I kidding?! Secret identity doesn't matter when my life is on the line in the face of a wrongful execution! _

"Claws—"

He was cut off by a sudden sharp turn that landed them under a bridge in a small meadow.

"This will do," his father said, "I decided it would be better for us if I brought you here instead of the execution site. Listen to me here, I'm going to kill you and then kill myself." 

Amid his horror, Light got an idea, turning to Plagg quietly, "Plagg, can you destroy that camera? I can save us, but only if the camera is destroyed." Plagg nodded, using cataclysm on the camera just as his father pulled out a gun, but it turned the whole car to dust. His father screamed in pain as the flesh on his legs decayed a bit, but Light had prepared and jumped a little bit off his seat and had urged Misa to do the same.

"Claws out!" The flash was so bright that Kuroneko managed to sprint away, carrying Misa before his father could process what had happened.

...

"Yagami-san? Yagami-san!" L called frantically after the camera and communicator went dark, "What happened, are you alright?!"

After a moment, there was a weak reply, _"I-It didn't work..."_

"Huh?" L frowned, "What do you mean? If this failed, you'd be dead?"

_ "N-No...the whole car turned to dust, I was blinded for a moment, and then both Light and Misa were gone." _

_ Turned to dust? That means... Kuroneko! _

The glamor was literally the only reason L couldn't figure out Light and Kuroneko were one and the same, and he'd feel like an idiot for not seeing it if he ever found out.

"Mr. Yagami, are you injured?"

_"My legs are badly injured, but other than that, I'm alive."_

"Turned to dust?" Matsuda asked, "The only one I can think can turn things to dust is Kuroneko. But he's been gone for quite a while."

"Maybe he was dealing with family troubles." L offered, "And returned. Remember that he and Ladybug have been very interested in the case. Assuming he managed to overhear, which is about a 20% chance if we're taking his superhearing and ability to reach impossible places into account, it is possible he heard about the false execution, got the wrong idea, and went to stop it. Meaning that he is the only one to know the location of Light Yagami and Misa Amane."

"I'll start searching immediately," Aizawa announced, leaving, but L knew it was pointless.

"I'll go find the chief!" Matsuda said, also leaving, leaving L alone with Tikki.

"Well, Tikki. Looks like this is a job for Ladybug." He stood up "Spots on!" 

OoOoO

Kuroneko managed to locate a toy store about to close permanently, and hid himself and Misa in the attic, going downstairs and grabbing pillows and blankets to make a makeshift bed.

"We'll be safe here for tonight, Misa." He assured, "Tomorrow, I'll go talk to a guy who knows a guy who can get us fake IDs and steal some disguises for us."

"Y-You're Kuroneko!" Misa brightened, "I'm a huge fan!" Kuroneko blushed, knowing a famous model and actress, was a fan of him.

"Thanks. Anyway, we should be safe for now. I hope you don't mind that I explained away my ring and kwami's existence by saying they were gifts from you." He detransformed and showed her Plagg. Telling Misa was okay because he knew she was very loyal to him and would rather die than reveal his secret. Besides, it was this or them having died. 

Plagg floating up to Misa, "Pleasure. I'm Plagg, the god of destruction."

"Oh! Were you the one to destroy the car?"

"Yup. I'm relieved I didn't end up wiping out the whole meadow. But I was _really_ working to restrain it. But I wasn't planning on letting you two die at the hands of that pathetic excuse of a father."

"Thanks, Plagg." Light grinned, "I owe you a ton of cheese whenever I can get my hands on some." He looked out the window at where the moon was coming up, "It's almost time for the daily meeting with Ladybug. Maybe I can convince him to help us... or for all he knows, he'd be helping Kuroneko protect Light and Misa from wrongful execution." He turned to Misa as he transformed, giving her a small device, "Use this only in the emergency case of someone finding you up here, and I will come immediately. I'll be back in roughly an hour, but I'll try to make it sooner."

Misa nodded, hugging him, "Please come back soon, I don't want to be alone. I've been bound and blindfolded for so long that my eyes burn just being in slight light, and it feels like I might go blind." Kuroneko smiled,

"I'm gonna leave the window open just a crack to help your eyes start adjusting. We'll gradually work up your ability to see. Just hang on for me, I'll try to bring some food. Might not be much."

"Anything is better than that gruel we were given." Truth. While the food used to be decent, it eventually devolved to gruel, which didn't help with the constant feeling of nausea.

He then jumped off into the night.

...

Ladybug swung to the usual meeting place and sighed in relief when he saw Kuroneko sitting there. But something was wrong. 

His partner was much thinner than he had been before, his hair longer. But not only that, his red-ish hair was now purely auburn, and his red eyes were green. Tikki had explained the red eyes were odd, but it could be a cultural thing, with green being the default. So why was it different? 

"L-Ladybug?" Kuroneko got up shakily, hugging him tight, "Oh Ladybug, the last two months have been hell, and I needed to see a familiar face!"

Ladybug flinched at how he could feel Kuroneko's ribs even through the suit, "Kuro, what happened to you?"

"I..." Kuroneko looked away, "Let's just say I learned what my parents really felt about me... put me through hell, tried to kill me, and kicked me to the curb. I've been an alleycat for a little while, just trying to get situated. Then I was patrolling the city and heard two people talk about executing Light Yagami and Misa Amane for being Kira. But they'd been detained for fifty days, and the killings haven't stopped, so it's a clearly wrongful conviction. The look on Light's face as his father betrayed him...so scared. Since I'd been in his shoes, that was extra motivation to help them."

Ladybug's stomach clenched, and he felt fury unlike ever before that someone would hurt their child the way Kuroneko had been hurt. No wonder his appearance looked different since the outfit apparently displayed personality. But he didn't want Light and Misa thinking it had been that way for them.

The real plan had been to see if they were Kira by having their lives in direct danger. If Soichiro didn't die of a heart attack, that made both the chances of them being Kira decrease and the chances of a death note being used increase. The gun hadn't been loaded. 

"Kitty, I understand what you did, but I was talking to the police when I heard about a car being turned to dust. They said the execution had been fake. A test to see if the two were Kira. Tell me where they are, and we can set this right." 

Kuroneko shook his head firmly, "No. Misa is nearly blinded from the sudden exposure to light after being blindfolded for fifty days, and Light is a mess. And what if it's a lie. L was lying to them for two months about the killings, terrorizing them. So help us, Ladybug, help the three of us track down Kira ourselves. Both prisoners said they refused to go back until they could provide evidence to clear their names."

Ladybug tensed. He hadn't thought about the idea of Misa being blinded. He was supposedly a genius and hadn't thought about it. And it looked like that 18% chance of the test breaking Light had come true. And he could tell his partner was placing a ton of trust in him just by revealing this, and a betrayal of faith was the last thing Kuroneko needed right now. Even if he wasn't good with emotions, Ladybug knew an emotionally shattered Kuroneko or Light was terrible for the investigation since they were both brilliant and charming. 

He sighed, "Stay here. I'll come back with some food for you three. Can I know at least where you three are staying?" Kuroneko hesitated,

"Not for tonight. Besides, we're not staying anywhere for very long, so it doesn't really matter. And...I know it might be a lot to ask, but can you, by any chance, get some cheese too? It's all my kwami really likes." 

Sighing, Ladybug left and got them a couple day's worth of food and gave it to him, shocked he got a hug in return,

"Thank you for everything, LB. I'll talk to Misa and Light about trusting you with our location and such." He went to leave, but Ladybug grabbed his hand,

"We're still meeting up for patrol. You will give me daily updates on Misa and Light, and I will give you daily updates on the investigation." He was still suspicious of them and wanted to find them as fast as possible, but he was okay with giving them a couple days worth of a mental vacation before a serious search party started, "Just make sure they have no access to the news." Kuroneko sent him an odd look, before shrugging,

"Fine. I'll do my best." He turned to leave, "Thanks again, Ladybug. I'll do what I can to help the investigation still." He left, and Ladybug shook a little bit, before sneaking into his hotel room and leaving his bedroom and asking Watari to take him to the hospital so he could see Mr. Yagami and give him an update on Light.

"This is your fault, Ryuzaki." Soichiro growled, "Because of you and your plan, my son is who knows where."

"He's safe." L assured, "I talked to Ladybug, who spoke with Kuroneko. I was correct in my assumption Kuroneko overheard the plan and got the wrong idea, but it just so happened the whole thing happened at just the ideal time for father killing son to be personal. All three are safe, but it seems Amane is suffering from sight impairments."

"Misa-Misa?" Matsuda asked worriedly. L nodded. Soichiro sighed,

"But Light still thinks I really tried to kill him." 

"Yes. And according to Ladybug, Light and Misa refuse to come out of hiding until they catch Kira themselves to clear their names."

"How does Ladybug know so much?" Aizawa asked skeptically. L sighed,

"Ever since the superhero duo appeared, I have been working on getting in contact with them. I managed to find Ladybug, but Kuroneko has been missing for a while, and only an hour ago did I learn the reason, which is too personal for me to tell you. Ladybug is my eyes around the city since nobody can see his whole face or knows his name, meaning he is safe if either Kira spots him. Not to mention the ability to reverse any deaths caused by Kira if caught within ten minutes."

Matsuda brightened, "Wow! With a power like that, Ladybug is a phenomenal ally! And Kuroneko seems nice."

"According to Ladybug, he is." L looked away, "But it hurt, the way Ladybug described Kuroneko's description of the state of Light and Misa. I think I'm feeling guilty."

"About time," Aizawa snapped, "Your methods have been cruel. We all want to catch Kira, but that fake execution was crossing the line by a huge margin. Personally, I feel the two are safer being observed by Kuroneko instead of L, and I don't even know the guy."

L got up, "Well, I'll be retiring for the night and trying to locate them. Get well soon, Yagami-san." 

When he got back to his room and was alone, Tikki emerged, and he sighed,

"What am I feeling right now, Tikki? It's like I want to cry and have knots in my stomach."

"I believe that is called guilt, or maybe just emotion in general." Tikki said, "Ladybug wielders are more emotionally intuned, and since you lack in that category, this is what normal people feel."

"Well, I have now been testing out constant emotion for two months and have decided it's not for me." L replied, sitting on the bed. 

Even though the idea of constant emotion was a new thing, L did not and could not forget the faces of thousands of victims. Who could comprehend the man who'd lived his life confronting all the lives ended prematurely, the tears of the grief-stricken survivors, the devaluing of life as a daily reality? How was it possible to measure the pain of such a man? Was it a strain so heavy that his back curved under all its weight? Agony so terrible as to leave the indelible dark circles around his eyes? A feeling so bitter that every bite he took needed to be coated in sugar? The chronically rounded shoulders, the inevitable dark circles, the eccentric tastes—L suppressed the pain of being a champion of justice. However, the evidence of the pain was molded into his very body.

Therefore, guilt was the last thing he wanted to feel. But he might as well take advantage of his inability to sleep and get access to traffic cameras in the hope of finding a lead to Light and Misa's location. 

Even if they weren't suspects, it was still essential to find them, especially since there had been physical evidence of Misa having sent the second Kira tapes. 

And it was at this moment that L felt the burning desire to learn who Kuroneko's parents were and make sure they ended up in prison for child abuse. 

...

Kuroneko got back with the food, and Misa walked over, stumbling a little bit as he detransformed and passed her some food. It wasn't much, just some meats, vegetables and rice, probably from somewhere cheap. But to the two former prisoners, this was the feast of kings. 

Plagg was eating cheese happily, looking at the two with a smile. Before losing his memory of the death note, Light had ordered the kwami that he would never under any circumstances reveal the Kira identity to either of them, so he couldn't tell them the truth. But it was nice to see an innocent side of Light. 

When she was done, Misa crawled into the makeshift bed with contentment, stretching, and a loud pop heard in her back since she had been bound in a chair for fifty days, so she was stiff as hell.

"Light, can you cuddle with me? I-I need assurance we're out of there." Light nodded. Even if he didn't romantically love Misa, he could admit he was craving affection right now, and who better than from someone who understood his pain? 

When he laid down, she wrapped her arms around him, neither caring that they both reeked horribly, and fell into a nightmare-filled sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was a break away from the canon series, with Light and Misa booking it like anyone would in the face of death and the chance to get away.
> 
> And the reason Misa has sight problems here is because it was implied in the series that she had that metal blindfold thing on without break for the 53 days, and that causes damage to the eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Kuroneko had managed to sneak himself and Misa to his old bedroom once he was sure his mother and Sayu weren't home, and as he detransformed, he instantly realized there were cameras in his room again. Probably to find them. He turned to Plagg,

"I'll give you extra cheese if you destroy the cameras." Plagg instantly flew around and destroyed them. Light turned to Misa, 

"Alright, so here's the plan. We only have ten minutes or so before the police arrive after realizing the cameras have been destroyed, which means Kuroneko has been here. So we take a shower together for five minutes tops, then pack anything we possibly can into some bags, and make a break for it. Plan?" Misa nodded, and they both ran to the bathroom, stripped, not even Misa thinking about the fact they were naked together as they washed each other, stole the soap, ran back to Light's room still soaking wet, stuffed things in all of Light's backpacks and duffel bags. Misa went to Sayu's bedroom to find some girl clothes, hair dye, and some cuter sunglasses since those were the only way she could see during the daytime. 

Once they were satisfied, Misa cleverly wrapped all the straps around herself in such a way that dropping her was the only way to lose the bags. 

At that moment, the police were trying to break down the locked door.

"Light!" They heard Matsuda call, "We just need to talk!" 

"Claws out," Light whispered, scooping up Misa and making a break for it just as the door was thrown off its hinges.

As he ran, he looked down at his partner-in-crime, "You know, Misa, this would be much easier if you had a Miraculous as well. I'm not blaming you, but I'm just saying." He cursed when he saw the police cars following them, "Misa, can you reach for my baton? I won't drop you, I promise, but I need to lose them, or we're getting killed for sure." 

Misa reached for it, handing him his weapon, which he extended and parkoured a couple blocks away before making it to the city and jumping on top of a tall building and hiding a little bit. He waited until the police cars stopped in front of that building, and most people went inside, with a couple staying outside. That was enough to evade. 

Grabbing hold of Misa again, he leaped in another direction, hopping around until he had made it back to the toy store attic and relaxing. There was an improbable chance anybody would find them since they'd been scrambling around for an hour.

"Mission accomplished." Kuroneko detransformed and Misa revealed all the beautiful fruit of their labor. Food, blankets, clothes, soap, hair dye, scissors, and all sorts of nifty other things. They knew that the police would have expected them to start with Misa's place, so there was likely at least one person there at all times, which made things difficult. But, they had Light's laptop now, which he had installed code on to ensure it couldn't be tracked.

"And now," Misa held up a container of rice from the family leftovers, "We feast."

"Then we disguise ourselves, I go get us some fake ID, and then we get a place and start the official investigation to find Kira and clear our names." He pulled out some scissors, "Misa, I am sorry, but I am not good at cutting hair."

"It's fine," Misa said, "I trust you. Besides, the worst-case scenario is I have a hairstylist fix it when we get our names cleared." 

Light used an elastic to put her hair in a ponytail and used the scissors to cut it, getting a couple inches off, then using a bowl of water to put some dye in. Nothing fancy, just a little brown. Misa didn't cut Light's hair but did add some dark brown highlights to give the illusion of a darker color. She was much better at this than he was.

"Light, what are we gonna do if the police catch us?" She asked frightfully, "If you transform in front of them, who knows what could happen."

"I won't let them get us, Misa," he promised, "If they catch us, the plan is to run like holy hell. It's not much, but better than nothing," after a couple minutes of scrubbing in the bowl, the dye was set, and he stood up, "I'll be back in a bit. Use the communicator in case of emergencies. Start using my laptop to log into your bank account and transfer some money to a new one. I'm trusting you, so be careful." Misa blushed, and he transformed, running off.

2 months later

It had been two months since Kuroneko helped Light and Misa escape, and L was losing his mind. Soichiro was also panicking since his son was who knows where, but they kept getting  _ so close _ to bringing Light and Misa home, but the runaway duo would slip through their fingers with Kuroneko's help.

Since the chances of Light being Kira had decreased, not to mention he was missing and under the mistaken impression he was a wanted criminal, L had found himself quite depressed and unmotivated to find Kira. Soichiro, regardless of using a wheelchair indefinitely, was hellbent on finding both Kira and his missing son. 

As Ladybug, L had been talking with Kuroneko, who gave daily updates as promised. At least Misa was slowly regaining her vision, and Light was slowly starting to get over the trauma, and they had set up shop in a two-bedroom one-bathroom apartment. 

When L had told Soichiro this, he started looking even harder, relieved the kids had stopped running from place to place every couple days. There had been multiple instances in the last two months where they would find one of the shelters, only to realize they had missed Light and Misa by a couple hours.

When Ladybug had suggested a meeting place where Light could clear things up with Soichiro, Kuroneko had flipped out, not wanting to risk the lives of two innocents, but came to the agreement that  _ he _ would go to the new headquarters and speak to the task force. If things went well, a meeting between father and son would be considered. If not, Light and Misa would leave Japan and never be seen again.

So here they were now, with Soichiro panicking.

"What if he takes my worrying the wrong way, and I never see Light again." The former chief had his head in his hands, "I need to make things right with him, explain what really happened."

"Sir... Kuroneko is the only person I will come close to trusting with my life," Ladybug assured since he'd chosen to be his superhero self, to show Kuroneko that there was nothing to worry about. "I've gotten to know him quite well. I'll need to leave soon, but let L explain the false execution plan. Just be kind to him." 

"Kind to me?" Ladybug yelped when he saw Kuroneko sitting perched at the top of the stairs.

"Watari didn't let you in!" 

"I came in from the roof." Kuroneko said with a shrug, "The lock was easy enough to get past. You may need to replace the door, though." 

"Did you turn it to dust?" Matsuda asked, and Kuroneko nodded,

"Sorry about that." He then laid eyes on Soichiro, "Mr. Yagami... Light has told me quite a bit about you." His eyes widened a little bit at the wheelchair, but his poker face returned moments later.

Ladybug smiled softly, "I'm glad you came, Kuro. Yagami-san has been very worried about Light." Kuroneko looked to Soichiro, before looking away,

"Why?" Ladybug sighed,

"Let me go get L. He can explain better."

"No! Uh—I mean—please don't...he and I don't exactly get along. I mean, why would we? I took his prime suspects... who he kinda tortured even when there was proof of their innocence." 

That knife of guilt plunged into Ladybug's stomach. It hurt, knowing his partner and a dear friend didn't trust his civilian self. For sadly, good reason, but it still hurt. A part of him was still convinced Light was Kira because there was no way his deduction had been wrong, but the longer Light was gone, it just didn't seem likely. And absence was making the heart grow fonder. He missed the young man he could actually talk to while being himself.

"Well, then... Matsuda, will you explain?" Matsuda got up,

"That 'execution' was fake. I can confirm it. The test was to see if the chief would die in the act of self-preservation from Light or Misa. There was no bullet in the gun."

"I would never deliberately hurt my son," Soichiro said quietly, "He means everything to me. Knowing that he's out there somewhere thinking I would listen to a stranger over him, and try to kill him, is unimaginably painful."

Kuroneko was silent for a moment, and Ladybug sensed his parter wanted, no... _ craved _ ...for the statements he heard right now to be the truth. But there was still doubt.

"Do you have any proof?" Aizawa actually did, pulling up a tab on a computer, showing the security footage of L and the chief discussing the plan. The date in the corner of the footage showed that very day. 

Kuroneko watched that video a couple times, his eyes watering. Then his features hardened again.

"Maybe the execution was fake. But what would happen if I brought the two back? I'm guessing security cameras at the very least and potentially being handcuffed to L or something like that."

_Wow,_ Kuroneko was right on the money. He did make a good detective.

"That would likely be the case. I'll go get L and see what he says." Ladybug left and detransformed, taking a deep breath and entering again, "That's right. After all, they are still suspects."

"That's a load of crap!" Kuroneko snapped, "I've been with them constantly, and neither is suspicious. As a matter of fact, we have an impressive lead, and I am going to go back to that." He went to leave, but Soichiro grabbed his hand,

"No! Please! I need to see Light again and make things right with him! I never doubted his innocence."

Matsuda stood up, "Kuroneko, you give me no choice..." he pulled out a ball of yarn and tossed it on the ground.

L watched in confusion as his partner responded by behaving like a kitten would in the face of a ball of yarn. Then he started acting really weird.

"What did you just do?" Aizawa asked, and Matsuda looked rather pleased with himself.

"Yarn that had been rolled in catnip. I really wanted to see if he acted like a cat since we've seen his bone structure can alter to that of a cat. I am delighted by this." 

"Matsuda," L pointed out, "Now he's stoned and is more feline than a human being. And there is a 58% chance he won't remember anything while under the influence. If he does remember, he's going to be furious that he was drugged into submission, meaning Light and Misa are as good as gone." He sighed, walking over to Kuroneko, "Come on, kitty, time to lay down." Kuroneko just giggled in response.

L sighed. This was going to be a long couple of hours.

OoOoO

Keeping an eye on a drugged Kuroneko was the same as a kitten, with him being very playful and a little all over the place.

No, really, one minute he was playing with a part of the curtain, and the next, he practically teleported to Watari when food was brought in.

At the moment, he had curled up in Soichiro's lap on the bed, purring happily. L took notes on how the Miraculous affected his behavior and wondered how the Ladybug would affect him.

Soichiro looked down at Kuroneko, clearly upset. There was no doubt the former chief was wishing it was his son curled up next to him but did feel bad for this superpowered kid without a real home. 

"If he's going to be mad anyway," Mogi offered, "Why not try to ask him for that lead he mentioned earlier. He might be a little more willing to talk."

"I don't wanna tell you," Kuroneko replied, his words slurred, his pupils huge, "We've already got a plan. I just need to get M'Ladybug on board."

That term had L sending Kuroneko a curious look. Ever since they'd started meeting more consistently and working more like friends than strictly crime-fighting partners, the cat-boy had become increasingly more affectionate, using little pet names. And as time went by, the chances of Kuroneko being Kira decreased to nearly 1%, because he was okay with openly expressing his views, had protected Ladybug continuously, which was something Kira would never do. According to Tikki, it would be more likely Kuroneko win his trust, let him get hurt, take the earrings, and run. But he hadn't done that.

If he joined in on Kuroneko's plan as Ladybug, he could get the information that the runaways refused to tell L or the task force. And then he could see for himself how Light and Misa were doing.

Speaking of which, Kuroneko's baton started ringing. Soichiro picked it up, revealing it turned into a phone, "Hello?" He put it on speaker, and it was Misa talking,

_ "Who is this? Where's Kuroneko?!" _

"Matsuda was stupid and drugged him." L replied, taking the baton, "He's okay, though, just loopy. Misa, is Light with you?" 

_ "No. He's out for right now." _ Misa answered crossly,  _ "Even if he were with me, I wouldn't tell you." _

"Do you know where he is?" 

_ "Yes. Not that I'll tell you." _ Misa growled,  _ "If you hurt him..." _

"I have no plans of hurting him." L assured, "I never had plans of executing you or Light either, Kuroneko has seen the footage to prove it." But Misa had already hung up, and a loud beeping filled the room, and Kuroneko's ring was flashing.

Tikki was in L's hair, whispering, "He's about to change back!" In response, L picked Kuroneko up off of Soichiro, plopped him on the couch, and threw a sheet over him.

"Everyone leave him. He's about to change back, and he will not be happy to have his identity revealed." He wanted to know who Kuroneko was, desperately, but he also knew that would be a betrayal of trust, and then he might leave Japan with Light and Misa.

The task force left, then L remembered, "Matsuda, can you put some cheese in there with him. I talked with Ladybug, who said there's a creature that fuels the transformation, and it needs to eat."

...

Matsuda grabbed some cheese and ran back into the room, glad he got to help in some way. 

Kuroneko was still under the sheet, but now Matsuda saw a human hand peeking out from under the sheet.

_ Don't do it, Matsuda. Don't you dare. _

_ But come on, I could find out who he is and find a way to locate Light and Misa. Nobody needs to know I peeked. _

And so, he did. Lifting up the sheet a tiny bit, he gasped and nearly screamed when he saw Light Yagami in place of the superhero.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Why Light was never there those times that they nearly caught the runaways, always just Kuroneko and Misa. Why Light had started talking to someone when he was in prison. How Kuroneko had gotten to the fake execution in time. It all made sense now.

But then his eyes widened as he remembered what Kuroneko had said about his parents abandoning him, tormenting him, not trying to help him, breaking him. He had been referring to the chief.

That realization was even more reason to not tell anyone about this. It was one thing to speculate, but knowing for a fact that Light was afraid of his father and had been broken by it would devastate the chief.

It was better if Light came back first, completely clear up the misunderstanding, then have that reveal. 

He then scampered out of the room, realizing he had been in there too long, unaware Plagg had seen him. The cat kwami shook Light awake from where he had passed out from the sudden shift from high to sober.

...

Light blinked a couple times, having one hell of a headache for a moment before it gradually faded. He then saw Plagg eating cheese, and he was in the task force headquarters without the mask.

He instantly panicked. This wasn't good, not good at all.

"Eat faster, Plagg!" Plagg turned to him,

"Relax, kid, only the Matsuda guy knows who you are. L ordered everyone to give you privacy."

Matsuda knew?! That was  _ terrible _ ! It was only a matter of time before he told the other task force members.

"Claws out!" He transformed and sprinted out of the room, pouncing on Matsuda, "You drugged me!?" Better to reveal that part, which L would expect a reaction to, than mention anything about Matsuda knowing the truth.

"Sorry," Matsuda squeaked, and Kuroneko then realized his claws were tearing into the young officer's clothing, "I didn't think it would affect you that much, I was just trying to stop you from leaving before we cleared things up about Light and Misa."

Kuroneko then stood up, seeing there had been a call with Misa, and he had been gone three hours longer than expected, "Oh no. I need to go. I'm late." 

"Please come back tomorrow," Soichiro insisted, "We do need to clear things up. Just tell Light that I love him." 

Hearing his father say that made a part of him want to go back. But what if this was a trick? And if L still wanted surveillance on them... he wasn't in the mood to have his privacy invaded again, and that was a considerable risk to his secret identity.

On the plus side, they had a lead with Yotsuba and the deaths, especially on weekends, but it was hidden under the criminal punishments. As Kuroneko, he had investigated by crawling in the vents and using night vision to navigate. He had the videos, and right now, they were trying to figure out which one was Kira. 

According to Plagg, Kira was using a death note to kill, granted to him by a Shinigami. But since the Shinigami wasn't in the room—touching the death note didn't matter for the god of destruction or the person he was fueling a transformation for—it was hard to tell which one actually was Kira. 

If it weren't for their disguises, they would have sent Misa in to use L's "second Kira" theory to their advantage, but she was currently going under the name of Kairi Hikaru. Light himself was going under the name Hiro Shimomura. So, as Kairi, she had taken a job for Yotsuba and was working on trying gaining enough trust to be invited to the meetings. 

Having Ladybug working with them would be even more helpful since he had direct ties to L, who would have the resources to pull off an elaborate plan. If it came down to it, he could just cataclysm them all. But he also didn't want to have that blood on his hands.

Call that Plan C.

He bowed respectfully to his father, "I'm sure he would appreciate that." Then he left from where he came and rushed back to Misa, who hugged him tightly,

"Light! I was so worried about you!" She said as he detransformed, "I was scared they were going to take advantage of your vulnerable state to try finding us." 

"Matsuda did." Light growled, "He knows my identity now, meaning he could tell the task force at any time. And if they find out, it's game over for us, because they could easily have Ladybug track me. Wait... Ladybug might know what to do!" He kissed Misa's forehead, "I'll be back with dinner. You practice with the nightlight while I'm gone." The nightlight was able to increase in brightness, so she was practicing seeing in brighter lights with it. So far, she was almost normal, but she couldn't hold it for long periods.

Misa nodded, "I'm glad I'll be able to see normally soon. Filing paperwork at Yotsuba doesn't require too much light, but being in the sun to get from there to here is troublesome. And these glasses keep getting smudged, and it drives me nuts." 

Light chuckled, "I'll be back soon, Misa. This time I can be sure. Are you done eating, Plagg?" Plagg nodded, and Light transformed, leaving once again and meeting up with Ladybug.

"Hey, M'Ladybug. Sorry, I'm a little late. I have a problem."

"Oh?" Ladybug frowned, "Is it that Matsuda drugged you when taking advantage of the cat tendencies."

"That and he now knows my secret identity. I think he saw when I was passed out. I'm afraid he's going to tell the task force, and I just barely got L off Light's back, and knowing my identity would make things worse."

Ladybug pondered this, "You're right. That is bad. I might be able to talk to him myself and explain that our identities are hidden from even each other for safety reasons. Also, L said that you wanted to see me about that lead of yours." Kuroneko flushed a little bit at the intense look in Ladybug's onyx eyes. He was developing a little crush on the spotted-hero, who'd stood by his side in this whole mess.

"Yeah. Look at this," Kuroneko pulled out his baton and showed Ladybug the statistics and videos of the private meetings, "One of those seven is Kira, the three of us are sure of it. And I talked to Plagg about that death note theory you mentioned a couple weeks ago, and he confirmed it. Thanks to the transformation, I can see Shinigami while transformed, even without touching the death note, which is normally required. But I think Kira is keeping his Shinigami with the death note, probably at his house."

"So we need to investigate each and every house and weed out which one has the death note." 

"Well, since we now know how Kira kills, we could always arrest and question them all." Ladybug suggested. Kuroneko shuddered,

"No. I know how L questions people, and I would not inflict that on the six others in the group. I think they're prisoners of the sort there because there used to be eight, but one didn't want to be there anyone, and he was dead the next day." 

"Interesting..." Ladybug bit his thumb in a way that was kind of adorable, "Well, taking that into account, we have a one in seven chance of finding Kira with a random phone call. Maybe we could make one be an inside man for us."

"Already thought about it. Misa's been taking a job there and gaining trust. But it would be nice to have another, just to be safe."

"Alright. I'll discuss it with L." Ladybug said, "Can you message me that info? And am I allowed to tell the task force about this? After all, it is their job to investigate this."

Kuroneko hesitated. L would somehow manage to twist this into him being Kira, and that was the last thing he wanted, so he said as much,

"Preferably not. Please, Ladybug. L is hellbent on proving Light is Kira when I know he isn't. I've been watching him, and he has been determined to find Kira and clear his name. Both of us agreed that L knowing any of this would lead to him twisting this information into making Light more of a suspect. We want to do this without the task force and their constant suspicion and refusal to grant privacy even in the bathrooms. You think I'm joking? I'm not. L had cameras installed in the Yagami household  _ in the bathrooms _ ! I do wonder why Light didn't call the rest of the police about that and get L arrested for having child pornography technically."

"Would he have even been able to do anything about it?" Ladybug asked, "It was to catch Kira."

"Yes, but seriously. The bathrooms, Ladybug! That's a step too far. And seriously, if I were Kira, I would hide the notebook in a backpack or something. Maybe under the mattress or in a bigger book. Not the bathroom."

"So, you don't trust L due to his methods and stubbornness?" Ladybug asked, and Kuroneko shrugged,

"I personally have only met L once, so I'm just going off what Light has told me. I don't mind him being stubborn, because I am too, but I do feel that the methods are pushed to an unhealthy extreme. That's all."

Ladybug looked away, "Maybe you're wrong about him. After all, you said so yourself that you've only met him once. Perhaps he'd surprise you. Maybe we will Skype with Light and Misa to work with them, but they still have their privacy."

Kuroneko pondered this for a moment before decided it would be a logical course of action, "That sounds like a fair compromise. I'll call L tomorrow if Light and Misa are okay with it. Sound like a plan?" 

Ladybug nodded with a fond smile, "That's a plan." He blushed when Kuroneko kissed him on the cheek and then ran off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

L watched Soichiro, who was very impatiently waiting for a Skype call from Light and Misa. It was clear the chief was eager to reunite with his son, even if only by a screen.

After what felt like an eternity, the call came through, and the task force was shocked to see how different Light and Misa looked. Light had much darker, shoulder-length hair. Misa's hair was short and maroon, and she wore purple glasses.

"Light!" Soichiro brightened, and Light smiled shyly,

"Hello, father." The chief flinched at the formal greeting instead of 'Dad' like it used to be. 

"Misa-Misa, you look great!" Matsuda chirped, and Misa waved,

"Thanks!" 

L smiled, finding himself blushing a little at the sight of Light. Finally, they were face to face or close enough.

"It's good to see you, Light." He said, and Light shrugged,

"Good to see you too, Ryuzaki. So can we get to the case now?"

"Of course. Ladybug won't tell us anything."

In truth, as Ladybug, he and Kuroneko had worked together and discovered Higuchi was Kira once they found the Shinigami. Kuroneko had spoken to the creature, named Rem, and said they had come up with a plan to take the killer down, but they needed the task force's help to pull off their plan. Which led them to here, with Light explaining as much and showing the footage by the two heroes, and Misa revealed the fact Higuchi seemed infatuated with her when she had convinced him she was the real second Kira, which was done with the help of Rem. 

L had been shocked to hear the Shinigami wanted Higuchi gone too. Still, according to Kuroneko, she said the Death Note was not supposed to have come to the human world, especially in the hands of someone so power-hungry and selfish. In her eyes, the original Kira's goal to rid the world of evil was the noblest use of the Death Note. 

But because Higuchi was of such high status, they needed to ensure he would basically reveal himself before anything else. Otherwise, his lawyer could talk the court out of the accusation. This led to the plan of Misa using her alias as Kairi Hikaru to go onto Sakura TV. Higuchi needed a name and a face, but he only had one of those for her.

"I also pretended to be L as a way of getting information from three of the other members who are only there because they have no choice." Light said, and L was extraordinarily impressed and saw Soichiro was filled with pride at his son's genius. 

Light turned to Misa, "Are you really okay with doing this?"

"Of course I am, Light." Misa said, "I want to go home and have my name cleared. Because, you know, nearly getting shot in the head for something you didn't do isn't a great experience."

Soichiro flinched and sent a dirty look at L, which sighed,

"So, does this mean we are to be meeting up in person?" Light nodded,

"Yes. Misa and I will meet you at the task force headquarters in a couple hours, and I have Kuroneko on speed-dial for when that part of the plan comes in. See you then." The call ended, and L smiled,

"That went well." 

A couple hours later

Light and Misa entered the task force headquarters, and Light was crushed by a hug from his father, who could now walk for short amounts of time.

"Light, I was so worried about you." 

Light was silent other than awkwardly returning the hug. Then he turned to L, who smiled. Whether Light believed it or not, he was L's first friend besides Watari, who was more like a father than anything. Kuroneko was the second friend.

"Hello, Ryuzaki." Light said, and L noted that his long-lost friend had a more apparent resemblance to his father when he had darker hair. 

"Hello, Light. It's been a while."

"Almost three months. And finally, we can get rid of Higuchi for good. So what are we waiting for?"

It as weird, seeing Light so strictly formal, but he probably wanted this over and done with as quickly as possible. There was a 60% chance Light would warm up again once Higuchi was brought to justice.

Misa started walking off, "I'll go to Sakura TV. Wish me luck." She ran off, and the plan started well, and L found himself looking away from the screens and staring at Light, who had a puzzled expression.

"It's all going according to plan. It's scary how perfectly this is going."

L chuckled, "Don't be scared. Be excited."

When Higuchi started driving at top speeds to the Yotsuba building to find the employment files, both L and Light smirked.

"I think it's time to bring the superheroes in," L said, and Light nodded,

"Yes. I'll go get him. You get Ladybug?" 

Both ran in different directions, transformed, and met up on the roof,

"So, the red car?" Kuroneko asked, and Ladybug nodded.

"How fast can you run?" Kuroneko winked,

"As fast as I need to. I've heard I can be faster than a panther, so let's see how fast I can really go." He jumped off the building, followed by Ladybug, who landed on a lower structure and chased after the car,

"We have to get him alone!" Ladybug called through the yoyo to his partner, "And we can't crash the car too severely. We need him alive and to collect the notebook and Rem." 

"Of course, Ladybug. I actually planned for this. Once he gets to the Yotsuba building, he will be looking for Misa's file to see if she has another name. Then he's likely to make the Shinigami eye deal, but I also made sure to use cataclysm on the security tapes, so there is nothing of Misa's face." 

"Good going." He saw the car stop, and Higuchi went inside, "Lucky charm!" A knife appeared. 

Kuroneko blinked a couple times, "So... is the Lucky Charm saying we need to kill him?"

"I doubt that." Ladybug looked around, seeing the tires were highlighted, "It's saying we need to blow the tires. But not yet." He tapped into the security cameras with the yoyo and watched Higuchi get very frustrated, and then they hid as he came storming out, and, as predicted, made the eye deal with Rem.

"All according to plan..." Ladybug mused, once again running with Kuroneko, both of which panicked when a traffic cop stopped Higuchi. That could very well cost the officer his life. 

"Looks like I'm going to have to use Miraculous Ladybug after all," Ladybug said quietly from where they hid, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to."

"At least we have that option. We should probably follow Higuchi now."

"That would be smart." 

It didn't take long for Higuchi to realize he was being tailed by the two heroes and tried to divert somewhere else, only for Ladybug to expertly throw the knife into a tire, blowing it, and Higuchi's car went flying. To avoid Higuchi taking damage, Ladybug grabbed him with the yoyo and pulled him out of the vehicle.

It was then that the police arrived, wearing helmets to hide their faces. Not that it mattered as Ladybug took the Death Note out of Higuchi's bag, jumping in surprise when he saw Rem for the first time. 

Kuroneko held his hands out, "Can I see it?" Ladybug handed it to him but did not expect Kuroneko to let out a bloodcurdling scream, falling to his knees, and his eyes turned back to the red they used to be.

"It-It's over... maybe my parents will finally... love me again." He said, but it sounded strained, and Ladybug mused that maybe the end of the case was the return of the red eyes. But another part of him said the Death Note was somehow the cause. 

But Ladybug was distracted by his partner's sudden screaming and didn't notice Higuchi pull out a gun until it was too late. It fired, but Kuroneko forced Ladybug out of the way, taking the bullet to the hip. Since the suit was bulletproof, it would just leave a bruise, but that didn't mean the force of a shot didn't hurt. But Higuchi had been aiming for a headshot to Ladybug, which would have been fatal.

Ladybug frowned as Kuroneko's eyes returned to green, "Kitty, I don't think I'm going to let you touch the Death Note anymore."

"Why?"

"You were holding it, screamed, and your eyes turned red again."

"Huh?" He then rolled because he had been on top of Ladybug, and his face was turning red with the furious blush.

The police had shoved Higuchi into a car, and Kuroneko growled at the man,

"Don't threaten my Ladybug again, or execution will be mercy." Higuchi was shoved into the car, and everyone took a breath of air.

Kira had been defeated.

OoOoO

L stood in the downpour, listening to the sound of church bells that reminded him of his childhood. 

Higuchi had been captured and was scheduled for execution in a week. But... something about the outcome of this case didn't sit well with L. Sure, the Death Note's rules said that if the owner didn't write a name within thirteen days, they died, which put Light and Misa in the clear entirely... but what if there were more Death Notes out there?

Rem and Tikki both said there was not a high chance of it, and there was no way of knowing for sure unless all the notebooks were personally collected, but what if there was a possibility?

And the way Kuroneko's eyes had changed when he was holding the Death Note, and then returned to green when he had let go... that also bothered him. Even when his eyes were red, Kuroneko saved his life, so it wasn't like he'd been corrupted by the power. Was it just that Kuroneko's eyes revealed the dark energy was in his possession? But then why had his eyes been red when they first met? As an adjustment to having the power of Destruction?

He tried to find an answer to his questions, but each theory was stopped by the thirteen-day rule.

He turned when he saw Light had just come up the stairs, the dye in his hair had since been removed. He seemed to be shouting something, but it was hard to tell through the rain. So after a moment, Light came into the shower as well after putting up an umbrella,

"What are you doing out here, Ryuzaki?" He asked, walking over and moving close enough that they were both under the umbrella.

"I hear the bells." L said simply, "Yes. The sound of the bell's been unusually loud today."

"Huh? I don't hear anything."

L turned, "Really? You can't hear it? It's been ringing all day incessantly. I find it…very distracting. I can't stop thinking about it. I wonder if it's a church—maybe a wedding, or perhaps a—"

"Ryuzaki..." Light sighed, "What are you getting at? Come on, cut it out—let's get back inside. We can't have you catching pneumonia."

In a moment of self-consciousness, L hunched his shoulders, "I'm sorry. Nothing I say makes any sense anyway." he sighed, "If I were you, I wouldn't believe any of it…" he looked down at the ground, feeling remorse and hated himself for the fact he had actually fallen in love with Light Yagami. And it was also strange, seeing Kuroneko loved Ladybug. L had assumed he was unlovable, but it seemed Kuroneko had seen through that, as Light was doing right now.

L gasped as he was given a hug by Light. He had no idea why he was, but he was glad to return it. 

When they broke apart, L nodded to himself, "Let's go inside." 

And so they did, grabbing some towels. L was soaked, while Light was only a little wet from the hug and stepping in puddles. Light continued to do this with closed eyes, seemingly in thought. When he opened them a heartbeat later, he gasped. L had sat before him on the steps, holding his foot in one hand, looking up at him in earnest. Immediately, Light dropped his towel, eyes widening.

"What are you doing, Ryuzaki?!"

"I thought I'd help. You seem to be drying yourself with quite some fervor."

"Yeah," Light chuckled, "Lately, water hasn't been my friend. But you don't have to do this."

"I'll throw in a massage?" He didn't allow Light to reply, speaking quickly and quietly, "At least allow me to atone for my sins. I'm not at all bad at it, you know."

L noticed a small smile on Light's face, "Do as you please." So he did, getting little noises from Light in response, before L felt Light shift a bit, bringing the towel to L's hair and drying it off.

"It'll be lonely, won't it?" He asked, partially to himself, "You and I will be parting ways soon." 

"Ryuzaki? What do you mean by that? It's over, we've won. Higuchi is to be executed in a week. Things are back to normal with myself and my family too." He frowned, "Do you mean you need to go back to London?"

"I suppose I don't _ have _ to, but that was the plan." Light put two fingers under L's chin,

"Stay. Life's going to be boring again without someone who I can have an intelligent conversation with."

L chuckled, but in truth, his heart was warmed by the statement, "You're right. Life _ will _ be boring." He sat next to him, "Light... does the outcome of this case sit right with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I looked through the Death Note, and the names in that book were only those killed by the second Kira and then later Higuchi, but none of the ones from the Kira that brought me down here. But still... Kira hasn't killed anyone since Higuchi's arrest, and everyone says it's over."

Light frowned, "That is odd. Well, maybe something happened to the original Kira, like a freak accident or a life-changing experience. So his only kills are the occasional accidental death once every thirteen days?"

"Perhaps you're right. You and Misa are no longer suspects, but it still doesn't feel right." 

Light smiled, "Ryuzaki, if you really think this isn't over, does it really hurt for us to work together and make sure Kira is truly gone?"

"You're right, Light-Kun. Thanks."

Light smiled, "It's nothing. I'll talk to Kuroneko."

OoOoO

Kuroneko and Ladybug had been looking through Higuchi's home once again, searching for clues. Neither could find anything all that suspicious or any signs of a second Death Note.

"This is odd." Ladybug looked around, "There's nothing in his contacts that suggests he even knows the original Kira. And the interrogations suggested the same thing."

"I know. Maybe we need to look at the Yotsuba building?"

They started walking but did not expect for Kuroneko to be tackled to the ground by an orange and black blur.

"Huh?" Ladybug jumped down and saw his partner pinned by a masked teen with a sword. He seemed to be dragon-themed.

"Who are you?" Ladybug asked, spinning the yoyo, ready for a fight. The boy stood up,

"I'm Doragon. And I'm going to learn your identities and prove _ I'm _ the better one!"

"That's cute, kid." Kuroneko said, squirming out from under him, but there's one of you and two of us, and we've been on the field longer."

"That's what you think. Wind dragon!" He then vanished into a puff of smoke. Ladybug and Kuroneko looked around, trying to find him,

"Do you see him?" Ladybug asked, and saw Kuroneko had clenched his fist with the ring and activated cataclysm. On instinct, Ladybug covered his ears to conceal the earrings. 

But then he felt a jolt of agonizing pain.

...

Kuroneko had been unable to find this new kid. They'd had no idea what his powers were, so they hadn't been able to do anything against this.

And now here he was, seeing his partner had been run through by Doragon's sword. Ladybug coughed up some blood as the blade was removed from him.

Kuroneko felt something snap inside of him, and he lunged at Doragon, grabbing him by the left side of his face and letting cataclysm push into the now screaming child. But he made sure to focus the power on just melting the flesh and causing excruciating pain, and not actually killing.

"Stop..." Kuroneko turned and watched in horror as Ladybug detransformed, turning into L. 

"L?!" Both he and Doragon asked in horror. The dragon boy clearly realized the monstrous thing he had done, and a look of dread was plastered on the intact side of his face before he passed out from the pain and shock.

Kuroneko cradled L in his arms, "Ladybug, Ryuzaki, hey, come on, stay awake." 

L only whimpered in response, trying to get into the fetal position. Kuroneko gently picked him up bridal style and ran as fast as he could to a hospital.

"No...hospitals..." L gasped out, coughing up more blood. His white shirt was already mostly red, "Please..."

"Sorry, Ladybug, I love you, but I am not going to listen to you right now."

"Watari can...stitch me up..."

But Kuroneko didn't listen. A part of him was shocked L and Ladybug were one and the same, but then again, it made sense. And it didn't change the fact he had fallen in love with Ladybug due to his kindness and understanding. Even those less pleasant times with L didn't matter anymore, and he only thought about those good times he loved.

"Kitty-kun..._ please _..." 

That 'please' broke him, and he found himself running even faster to the task force headquarters. 

"WATARI! RYUZAKI NEEDS HELP!" He shrieked, alerting everyone as he placed L gently on his bed. Watari came with a sewing kit and some supplies.

"Ryuzaki, what happened?" Watari asked, and L smiled,

"Got run through..."

Watari's eyes widened, "Why aren't you at a hospital?!"

"I don't want to go to the hospital." He coughed again, his body shaking. Kuroneko couldn't take it anymore. His rage started bubbling when he heard the beeping of his ring.

"Claws in!" He detransformed, and everyone on the task force except Matsuda gasped as they saw Light running over and holding L's weak hand. Plagg darted over to the food to recharge, and Light ripped off his jacket and tried to apply pressure to the wound, "See? Watari can't do anything. Plagg is going to eat, and I will take you to the hospital. Just focus on your breathing and stay with me, M'Ladybug."

Everyone gasped when they heard the detective was Ladybug. L just smiled weakly, "Okay..." he gasped in pain, tears falling from his cheeks. Light whirled to face Plagg,

"Damnit, Plagg, eat faster!" He growled frantically. He had no idea what this feeling was, but it was a sense of dread as though the world was about to end if L died. But he supposed it made a little sense since Plagg had mentioned the Ladybug and Black Cat wielders were Yin and Yang, soulmates.

Mogi pulled out his phone, "I'll call an ambulance."

"But it will get here too late!" Light screeched, smacking L when he started closing his eyes, "Don't you dare die on me right now. I did not search fervently for Kira alongside you, and risk my life to save you, and solve cases with you, just for you to die! You hear me?! Ryuzaki! Come on!"

L looked at him through half-lidded eyes, "Light-Kun... I'm glad Kuroneko was you. My two closest friends... my love... one and the same."

Light nodded a little bit, relieved L was talking, "And I'm glad you're Ladybug. I-I love you, Ryuzaki, and that's why you're not going to die on me." He gasped as L used the last of his strength to pull him down for a kiss, before falling completely slack.

"R-Ryuzaki? Ladybug?" No response. L wasn't breathing. Light screamed, trying mouth to mouth and CPR, but nothing worked.

L was dead.

Tikki and Plagg looked to each other with sad expressions, Rem bowed her head, the task force had various feelings of horror. Light threw himself on L's body and sobbed, begging for him to not be gone.

"I should have just taken you to the hospital... I'm so sorry, Ryuzaki... I might have b-been able to..."

Soichiro walked over, gently prying Light away from the body, holding the bawling boy. 

"Shh, I'm here, son. I'm here..."

OoOoO

A week after L's death, Light was borderline insane. L had been placed in an airtight glass coffin. No air was in there to decay his body. In a fresh set of his trademark attire, covering the horrific wound, he looked like a sleeping princess in those fairy tales, but Light knew there was no true love's kiss that would wake him up.

And what was worse? Rem had told him about the wish three days prior, but the Ladybug Miraculous was gone, alongside a note saying "sorry for your loss, but there needs to be a new Ladybug now."

So now, Light was holding the Death Note in his hands. He has his memories back and had expected to laugh at L's death. But he still felt just as hollow as before. Rem said Misa had described this feeling as love.

When he had first gotten his memory back when first touching Higuchi's Death Note, he had been lunging both to save Ladybug and to snatch the earrings to quickly gain ultimate power and create the new world. He hadn't meant to drop the book and lose his memories again. But he couldn't say he had any regrets about dropping it, because then he might have manipulated Rem into killing L, and he would have lost Ladybug anyway.

Surprisingly, Misa took the revelation Light was in love with L very well. She respected he just wasn't attracted to girls—"As long as I'm not losing to another girl, it's understandable. You are attracted to boys, meaning you can't love me even if you tried. Rem, don't kill him, I'm okay with this"—and was satisfied with his promise they would always be best friends though. After all, they'd been through, not remaining friends would be difficult. 

So Light had given a Death Note to a guy called Mikami, to use as Kira to get the new Ladybug to come out. And once the new one appeared, he would take the Miraculous and bring L back. 

And who knew. Ladybug had seemed somewhat open to the ideals of Kira, just not the method Kira did it. Maybe with some changes, they could work together to build the new world.

"I'll save you, L." He promised, "I thought I wanted this, but life is already miserable and boring without you. So I'm going to bring you back. I promise."

Rem watched him worriedly as he laugh-sobbed before the coffin.


	5. Chapter 5

When Near had heard an alert that Ladybug was dead, he had not expected Mello to be found later, with his face damaged and flesh melted off, repeating the phrase, "I killed him. I killed him."

Later, there was an announcement that Ladybug had been struck down by someone who was supposedly one of Kira's followers. Kuroneko was working alone, his eyes once again blood-red, and vowed to hunt down and destroy both Kira and his partner's killer.

It hadn't taken long to put two and two together and realize Mello had been the one to kill Ladybug. How he did it, Near did not know, but the culprit was identified. That theory was assisted with damage done on a molecular level to Mello's face.

Another thing he hadn't expected was to see a pair of Ladybug-themed earrings on his dresser, and a mystical bug said that he was the new Ladybug.

Near was instantly against the idea. Mello would be better for the role because he was willing to get out on the field, while Near preferred to hide behind a screen like L. But there was a sense of cruel irony in Ladybug's killer becoming the new one. That and the chances of Kuroneko going ballistic if that happened were 99.9%.

So Near kept the earrings, not planning to use them. Later, Mello vanished without a trace, leaving a letter behind saying he was going to atone for what he'd done, catch Kira, and prove he was the better successor to L. Near didn't know why Mello was so emotional about Ladybug's death when he hadn't shown qualms against killing before. Was there something about Ladybug's identity that devastated him so much?

But that didn't matter for now. L was still alive, and he would catch Kira.

5 years later

In the years that passed since L's death, Light was growing increasingly more rash in his quest to find the Ladybug Miraculous. The task force had noticed his rapidly dwindling resolve, and there were times only Misa could get him out of an episode. 

Things were just so sad and dull without L, no point in creating the new world, nobody to have an intelligent conversation with, no odd sugar-addict as a friend, or a supportive and brilliant superhero as a crush.

Thanks to the airtight coffin, L looked the exact same as he had the day he died. His family and the task force had tried to tell him it was time to let go, but he couldn't bring himself.

He knew his parents were worried about him, primarily because they both knew his superhero identity, but it was pointless to stop him because he had proved he could get far away from them if he wanted to.

Rem hadn't used to like him, but she had seen how L had changed him from a cold and manipulative man to someone who had the potential to be a hero. And he had genuinely kind to Misa and kept true on his promise to remain best friends with her. Misa still loved him, and everyone knew it, but she acknowledged that Light just wasn't attracted to girls, so it was pointless to try.

While Ryuk was an enabler of Light's more destructive behaviors, Rem acted as the voice of reason to talk him out of some of his more sadistic plans to find the Miraculous. There had been times he contemplated killing the whole task force while in the middle of a mental breakdown, but she and Misa had talked him out of it.

A human possessing a Death Note always suffered, and Light was no different. Lately, he had started using the Death Note again, but only to use criminals as an outlet for his rage and pain. At least it was criminals and not innocents. 

As Kuroneko, he was mostly using it as an escape from being the second L. Still, it only brought more pain as he yearned to see a spotted hero land at their usual spot and talk with him for a bit before patrolling the city. But instead, he was all alone. Criminals he caught in that time were killed with cataclysm, because there was no Ladybug to stop him anymore, and then he broke down again remembering why nobody stopped him.

According to Plagg, this response was because of how close he had become to Ladybug. It was usual for a Cat to shatter when their Ladybug died, especially when it was a murder they failed to prevent. With Light, everyone who knew the truth about Kira had been shocked that he was acting this way and not thrilled nobody was there to stop him. Another factor was the fact he hadn't gotten his memory back of the Death Note until after L was dead, which branded that pain into his mind and heart forever, and there was no reason for him _ not _ to be devastated on L's death.

One update was that they had caught 'Kira' thirty-seven times now. Every time they located the one given the Death Note, Light would write that person's name in his own notebook to ensure they delivered the Death Note to someone else before capture, and then die before they could be caught, with the cause of death is the same to Naomi Misora—suicide in which the body will never be found. So Light wasn't as much Kira anymore as he was the puppetmaster. 

It was both parts relieving and frustrating to Light how the police system worked when it came to murder and the whole "no body, no crime," rule. Sure, it made his job as the puppetmaster a hell of a lot easier, but it also meant countless people were getting away with murder is they disposed of the body, and that was simply unacceptable in his perfect world he wished to build. And when he officially joined the police, he learned 40% of murder cases went unsolved, which was also unacceptable.

Most of the world had given up on capturing Kira. If he weren't stuck with his pain of losing L, Light would be thrilled about this. But this also meant the new Ladybug hadn't come out yet. He needed to find that Miraculous, and it was starting to drive him even further off the deep end in his frustration of not locating it. 

Misa massaged his back, "Light, the Miraculous is going to turn up. We just need to get a Kira who hits close to home for the new Ladybug, and that will drive him into action."

"You're right," Light said quietly, looking at L's body in the coffin. 

Misa smiled a little bit, "Say, Light, we should go out to lunch. Lately, you've been drowning in work. Take your mind off things for a bit."

Rem nodded, "That is a wise idea, Light Yagami. You will be no help to L if you work yourself into the ground." Plagg nodded his agreement, 

Light sighed, "Fine. But only for an hour or so."

So they went to a small cafe, where the two ate lunch quietly and made friendly conversation about anything they could think of that didn't relate to the case, or the Miraculous, or L. Plagg gleefully ate some cheese, and Misa shared a sundae with Light.

Neither expected Light to get a phone call from his father about the Deputy Director having been kidnapped, and the ransom being the notebook.

Without thinking, Light whipped out the notebook and wrote the Deputy Director's name in the Death Note, cause of death being suicide. That way, there was no leverage the kidnappers had over them.

And for a couple days, that seemed to have put the kidnappers in a place where they couldn't act since they'd lost their leverage.

But then he was working with the task force to catch Kira—having been permitted by Watari to stay in L's headquarters since Light had plans to revive him—and his father got another call.

"Sayu!" The mention of his little sister had Light whirling around and honestly listening in to the phone call and not just going on auto-pilot. The kidnappers had decided to use Sayu as their new hostage!

The idea of his little sister—another critical component in even a shred of his mental stability and care for others remaining—being in danger, made his blood boil. But then he found himself caught in a flashback to L's death, that shocked and pained look on his face with the sword going straight through him, front and back, and the voice of Doragon.

That voice...

Light gasped as he remembered the voice of Doragon, which was so similar to this one he had to test out his theory. He snatched the phone from his father, and put on his Kuroneko voice, "Hello Doragon, Kuroneko speaking. Long-time, no see. Has your face healed up?"

The pause in response confirmed to him who he was speaking to, before Doragon responded, "Who are you talking about?"

Frustrated now that this vile creature was playing dumb, Light growled, "Don't play dumb with me. I recognize the voice of the one who murdered my beloved Ladybug. And now I have five years' worth of regrets for not strangling you with your own intestines." Matsuda turned a little green at the idea, and Soichiro was appalled by what his son desired to do, "So, you want the notebook. I'll tell you what, you give me the girl, and I won't kill you and everyone associated with you. Trust me, after what you did, Kira is the least of your concerns."

"So you figured out who I am," Doragon finally admitted, "But there's no way I'm going to hand over Sayu Yagami unless I get the notebook. I know the Japanese Task Force has it."

"The better question is how you even know the notebook exists," Light growled, "But I suppose I can rip the answer out of you with my own claws."

"You have two days." Then the line went dead, and Light punched the wall so hard his knuckles bled. 

"The call came from LA," Aizawa said, and Light got newfound hope, 

"Plagg—"

"No, Light." His father demanded, "You are not going to get directly involved with this case."

"What? But Dad, this is Ryuzaki's killer—"

"Which is exactly why I forbid you from getting involved, Light. I can't see you become a murderer." Light narrowed his eyes,

"You're not the one with five years worth of regret weighing you down at all times. And who knows, maybe destroying this criminal and taking his Miraculous, will drag out the imposter who was given my Ladybug's Miraculous. And now, this son of a bitch has crossed the line again by kidnapping Sayu!" He held up the Death Note, "Don't worry, Dad. I have no plans of actually giving this notebook to him."

Soichiro sighed, "Fine. At least let me go with you, to keep you in check and make sure Sayu is alright."

Light gave a frustrated sigh, "Fine. But if he hurts Sayu, no stopping me from killing him." Soichiro sighed,

"If he hurts Sayu, _ you're _ going to have to hold _ me _ back."

OoOoO

Once the operation to 'trade' was underway, both Light and Soichiro went together. It wouldn't be suspicious since it made sense for father and son on the police force to go along for something like this. 

It didn't matter when a member of Doragon's team brought them to a different flight, because as long as Light had the ring, he was safe. When the man he could only assume was of the mafia asked about the ring, he just said it was an engagement ring, a quick lie to conceal the truth that would destroy his enemies. 

Looking around the desert, Light and his father exchanged confused looks before an underground entrance appeared.

"Light, are you sure you are willing to risk your identity?" His father asked, "I can save Sayu alone."

"And if this weren't so personal, I would let you." Light admitted, "But if this is really the guy who killed Ryuzaki, I will not let him leave alive. Nor anyone else who stands in my way. Plagg," he turned to his kwami, "Extra cheese if you destroy any cameras." Plagg's eyes widened,

"Light, my powers are much stronger than cataclysm. I could cause a cave-in!" 

"Just be careful then." Light said simply, "If it comes down to it, I can transform and get Dad, Sayu, and myself out." 

In reality, he planned to transform and subtly take photos of everyone they encounter and send them to Misa, who had gotten the Shinigami eyes back—regardless fo Rem trying to talk her out of it—and she would write the names of those people in the Death Note pages he had given her. That way, there would be no survivors after this. 

Together, they entered the hideout and saw Sayu behind a bulletproof glass panel. The only reason Light knew it was bulletproof was because another mafia guy fired a gun directly at the glass.

"Slide through the notebook," the masked man said, and Light glared darkly, "And I'll release the lock. The notebook will end up on my side and the girl on yours. However, if you don't agree with this trade, I'll shoot her through this opening."

Light smirked, "Sayu, I want you to get down and close your eyes." He held up the notebook as she obeyed, "Plagg, claws out." he said this quietly, and transformed right there, moving too fast for anyone to detect, "Cataclysm!" the glass was turned to dust as Kuroneko tossed the notebook to his father and gestured for him to take Sayu. He did, thankfully, and he ran through the facility, using his claws and cataclysm to cut down anyone he came across as though they were nothing but pathetic obstacles to his primary goal.

With his cat senses and unlimited cataclysm, thanks to adulthood, he might be able to do this without Misa's help, but once he found the main room, he noticed a bunch of people running in different directions.

This was when the camera came in handy, since he'd been experimenting with his baton and found there was a drone feature, which he used to have go after the majority, while his cat senses recognized his own handiwork on one of the younger ones, who he chased after and lunged at, giving the young man a predatory grin when he saw the permanent imprint of his own clawed hand on the man's face, having melted away all that flesh and partially bone in such a grotesque fashion that even he was a little sick by it.

"Hello, Doragon," he purred, "Why aren't you transforming? I've looked forward to battling you again for such a long time, see?" It was nice, a part of him felt, to let out all this pain in the form of a sadistic monster. He didn't care that he was letting himself become the thing he'd sworn to fight against. This man was a murderer of the (three) greatest detective(s) in the world, and his partner and dear friend. 

The man squirmed under him, "I lost my Miraculous," he snapped, "After Ladybug's death." If possible, that grin got wider on Kuroneko's face,

"So you joined the mafia to reach your goal instead. Well, you made a grave mistake in getting my sister involved," he pinned the man to the ground with one hand and used his other to dig into the man's stomach and pull out organs, "So tell me, what should I call you? Say it, and I might let you live."

"M-Mello. Not that it matters," he gasped out, "That's not my real name." 

"Aw, how cute. You thought I'd just turn you in to Kira." Kuroneko let out a dark chuckle as he ripped out even more of the small intestine, activating a slight bit of cataclysm as he slowly strangled Mello with his own organs, just as promised. But those choked screams weren't nearly enough. He wasn't suffering enough. Regardless of how vile this murder was, it was nothing compared to the pain Mello killing L had put him through mentally. He'd been forced by the task force to take up fucking embroidery to relieve his stress because stabbing people every time he was in a pissy mood was frowned upon. 

But _ this _, killing his partner's murderer, was so much more satisfying in a way that even the Death Note couldn't bring him.

He put his lips to Mello's ear, "Beg, beg me to spare you," Mello remained silent, possibly because he was on the brink of passing out, but also maybe in defiance, and that pissed him off. So he bent down and ripped Mello's throat out with his teeth and spat it out, before using cataclysm on the body, leaving nothing of Mello except blood and a lot of it.

The drone came flying back, and Misa happily announced, "All done!" 

Kuroneko nodded, focusing and using on of the other adult-given powers of the Cat Miraculous, "Black Storm!" and destroyed the whole place, leaving him barely enough time to sprint to the exit before the entire site caved in, destroying any evidence or possible survivors.

He detransformed and noticed he was still covered in blood, regardless of having killed someone while transformed. His father and sister were staring at him in both parts, relief, and horror.

"No, this is not my blood," Light said simply, calling for someone on the task force to pick them up, "And look, all the kidnappers are dead, we have Sayu and the notebook, and I finally got to avenge Ryuzaki's death. I'd say today has been a successful day."

Both his relatives were still appalled. Light groaned,

"I know you're still sending me to therapy, but I feel much better now, Dad."

Sayu fainted. 

His father stared at him, "You are... you know what, now that Ryuzaki's killer is dead, maybe you'll finally start recovering. For right now, I will accept that. But you and I are having a serious talk about your mental health later."

"Dad, I swear I feel better now. Much better."

"Yes, but it shouldn't have taken killing someone brutally to make it happen." Soichiro retaliated, "I assumed it would be quick cataclysm and being done with it, and that's the only reason I was even a fraction tolerating it. But you..." he gestured to Light's blood-soaked hands, hair, and mouth, "I have no words, nor do I want to know what exactly you did."

"But Dad," Light sighed, "If someone murdered me or Sayu or Mom, wouldn't you do the same to avenge us?"

His father's lack of response was all the answer he needed.


	6. Chapter 6

Back at the task force headquarters, Sayu was still unconscious—the only reason she was here was to make sure she understood the importance of keeping Light's superhero identity secret—and everyone was freaking out at how calm Light was with being covered in blood. 

For a while, some of the members had seen Light's willingness to kill as proof he could be Kira. But turn that on its head, and you see he wouldn't let his psychotic tendencies be known if he was Kira. Or he was just traumatized by L's murder right in front of him, and it broke him. The trauma option had been widely accepted among them. And honestly, even if they were going to arrest him, what could they possibly do against the guy who just needed to say a small phrase to kill them all? So they'd decided to just keep Light on a short leash with how far he could go, and take full advantage of the "no body, no crime," rule.

Rem—unofficial babysitter of Light—looked down at Light with sad eyes, "Are you feeling better?"

Light wiped off his mouth with a napkin, as though he'd just eaten a nice meal and not ripped someone's throat out with his teeth, "Much better," then he sighed, "If only I'd been able to do that before he got to Ryuzaki..."

Mogi looked at Light worriedly, "If Ryuzaki hadn't died and had just been attacked, would you have still..?"

"Killed Mello? Not that violently, but yes. Because I would have at least brought him to the police, and his name would have been revealed on television. The man was going to die anyway, whether at Kira's hands or mine, and I'd rather handle something personal myself."

Soichiro put his hands firmly on Light's shoulders, "You need help, Light. I've been telling you since you were little that we don't kill people, and you are so unphased by killing potentially dozens of people in that base. Just because Kira would have done it anyway, doesn't mean you should stoop to his level." He sent a pointed look at the ring.

Another popular theory among the task force was that the ring was affecting Light's mental state for the worst. After all, it had the power of death, and it was the reason he was so attached to L, even as a cadaver that should be underground. But they'd tried taking the ring from Light in his sleep, and it ended in Matsuda having a broken jaw and Light breaking down into psychosis for a while.

Aizawa handing Light the embroidery he had been working on, which Light begrudgingly started working on. Even if he hated it, he was rather good at it. 

But this only lasted for about five minutes before Light grew frustrated again, and he got up, "I'm going to take a shower to get the rest of the blood off before Sayu wakes up. But guys, the only thing I need now to feel great again is to find the Ladybug Miraculous and bring Ryuzaki back." He left, and Soichiro sat down with his head in his hands,

"Why won't that damn Miraculous just turn up already?" He asked nobody in particular, "Ryuzaki might be the only one able to bring my son back. Even if we've all moved on from his death, except for Watari, I want him back, for Light's sake."

"I know how you feel, chief," Matsuda sat down beside him, "I actually started a side project to see if I could locate the earrings—don't tell Light about it since I don't want to get his hopes up."

Rem sighed, "But the question is if he is willing to pay the price of his wish."

"You mean the price of equal exchange, right?" Matsuda asked, "If Light brings back Ryuzaki, someone else will die."

"Not just someone else," Rem revealed, "Someone of equal value to him. If there is no such person, the price will go for the closest option—either Misa or a member of Light's family. Unfortunately, Misa is aware of the fact she may die, and I tried to talk her out of being so willing, but Light means the world to her. If her death brings his happiness in the form of L's return, she will do it without hesitation."

"Misa would really do that for Light?" Aizawa gaped, and Soichiro groaned,

"I'm not surprised. But that worries me even more. Does Light know Misa would most likely be the sacrifice?"

"No. Light Yagami has convinced himself he will be able to choose the Ladybug replacement as the sacrifice—and while that may be possible, it is improbable." 

In truth, Rem hated everything about Misa's willingness to die. The only reason she hadn't killed Light outright was due to Misa's love, and the fact Light was genuinely convinced he could have both his lover and his best friend. That and Misa had _ begged _ Rem to let Light be happy, even if she died. 

If L had been killed by the Death Note, this whole thing would have been much easier because there was such thing as a Death Eraser, which could remove someone's name from the Death Note and resurrect the person who had been killed. But L had been run through by a magical sword, and thus the wish was the only thing able to bring him back.

Though she supposed the wish could happen, she kills L before Misa dies, but makes sure to leave behind the Death Eraser so Light can bring back L. That _ might _ bypass the price of the wish.

"I feel bad for the person who got the Ladybug Miraculous," Mogi said, "Just given some magic jewelry and now Light wants their head." 

Sayu blinked awake, looking around, "Dad?" Soichiro shot to her side, hugging her tight as she began to cry as her memories of her kidnapping returned.

After a moment, Sayu shook a bit, "L-Light is Kuroneko? A-And he..."

"Yes," Soichiro said, sitting down beside her, "Your brother is Kuroneko. He was furious that someone would try to hurt you, especially since the leader of that group was the one who killed Ryuzaki." He looked down at her, "This is a significant secret to keep, do you understand?"

Sayu nodded before she fell asleep again on his shoulder.

"She's likely in shock," Rem said, "Give her time, and she will hopefully recover. It is possible she won't remember Light's identity at all."

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, Light came down the stairs, looking like a perfectly normal young man, "Has Sayu woken up?"

"For a moment," Soichiro answered, "We were actually discussing with Rem the price of your wish to bring Ryuzaki back."

"I already took that into account," Light replied, "I'll just use the imposter who has Ryuzaki's Miraculous. That's all."

"But what if it doesn't work that way?" Aizawa snapped, "What if you can't choose, and it kills Misa or someone in your family?"

Light froze for a second, before looking at the floor. For a second, everyone had hope that they'd just reasoned with him, but then he looked up with brown eyes flecked with red,

"Then, I'll make it work that way."

OoOoO

Near could not believe the news that just came in at Wammy's House.

Mello was dead. He and his entire mafia slaughtered without mercy by Kuroneko.

He didn't know the context, just that one person hadn't been in the base at the time and saw two men go in, and one of the men come out with a girl, and then the whole hideout caved in as Kuroneko ran out and changed back into a regular young man. It had been on the LA news, but there were no photos or video surveillance to confirm or deny the Kuroneko thing, but there was confirmation of the cave in and Mello having been down there. It was very unlikely he survived.

Sadly, the superheroes were not something anyone on Earth wanted to mess with. To most, Kuroneko was more dangerous and unpredictable than Kira, especially since Ladybug's death. So Near was unable to get satellite footage of who Kuroneko's civilian identity was.

As disappointed as he was with Mello's death, Near also understood why Kuroneko had done it. But what was Kuroneko's goal at this point?

Maybe L would know since it was relatively common knowledge that L worked with the superhero. So he gave L a call, only to go straight to voicemail. He frowned, before looking to Tikki,

"Tikki, is there any reason Kuroneko might be looking for these earrings?"

"Yes. Combine the Ladybug and the Black Cat, and the wielder can perform one wish. But since Kuroneko is working with L and the task force, I would assume his wish would be to either resurrect Ladybug or to bring Kira to justice."

The idea of that had Near brightening visibly, fiddling with a strand of his hair. He might be able to get close to Kuroneko that way and use the earrings as leverage to get in on the Kira Case. It had been six years, and Kira hadn't been captured, so L would understand at least an offer of assistance. 

"Tikki, Spots On."

He transformed, deciding his superhero name would be Korovka, which was Russian for Ladybug. His superhero attire was a simple spandex outfit, like the superhero toys he played with, and a red and black mask.

It would take a while to get to Japan, so best he got started.

OoOoO

Light and the task force was looking for another lead on Kira. It was scary yet joyful, how much better Light was doing sanity-wise with L's killer gone for good. But at least he was finally feeling even a little better.

"Where's L?"

Everyone turned when, to the task force's horror and Light's delight, a Ladybug-themed boy was standing at the stairs, "I'm Korovka. I heard the superheroes were helping with the Kira investigation and wished to offer my own services." 

The members of the task force looked between Light and Korovka, half expecting Light to transform and attack. But instead, Light just smiled, which was even more chilling.

"I am he." They all watched Korovka recoil as though he'd been slapped, before returning to a calm demeanor,

"I've met L, and you are definitely not him. Where is he?" Watari came in,

"Near?" 

Korovka gasped at the sight of Watari, "Watari, where is L?"

Light stood up calmly, "I am merely a _ temporary _ second L. I'll take you to the one you know." He walked upstairs, gesturing for the boy to follow, "Come. If you're from Wammy's House, like I assume you are since Watari recognizes you, it's okay to bring you to Ryuzaki." 

_ I've won! _ Light rejoiced, _ I never imagined he would come directly to me like this. Maybe Mello's death is what brought him out. Well, Near, you've made a terrible mistake coming here if you value your life. _

They entered L's room, and Korovka gasped at the sight of L in the coffin, with his hands folding over his stomach.

"He was the original Ladybug." Light got out through tears, no need to fake them, "And some bastard named Mello killed him. I couldn't stop it." He clenched his fists, "He asked me not long before he died t-to take over as L if he died. But with the Miraculous of the Ladybug and the Black Cat," he gestured to the earrings, and Korovka backed up a bit as he noticed the bloodlust quickly emanating in Light's eyes, "I can bring him back. We can have my Ladybug back, and we can catch Kira."

"He knew he would die?" Korovka asked, and Light shrugged,

"Knowing him, he probably thought it would be Kira who finished him off... but it wasn't. I finally avenged his death not long ago, but that's not enough. We've _ nearly _ captured Kira thirty-seven times, but we'd be able to finally do it with Ryuzaki back."

...

As Light explained, all the pieces clicked into place for Korovka. Why Mello was so devastated over Ladybug's death—it had been L all along. It was clear that this second L was actually Kuroneko since he was the only person L would trust with such an important role if he'd felt as though he was in a hurry. But it was interesting how many times the task force had nearly caught Kira, only to fail. 

Logically, having L back would be great for the world and the case. But on the flip side, he has been dead for five years, and it would defy the laws of nature to bring him back.

What would L want?

That answer was unclearer than Korovka had expected it to be, since L had never really mentioned himself dying, from what Korovka had seen of him. Would he even want to be brought back into a world where the world as a whole except for this one task force and a handful of people scattered about worshipped Kira?

After a moment, he decided that, no, L wouldn't want that. Korovka took a couple steps back from Light,

"No. L wouldn't want to come back into a world like this."

He then realized just how much he screwed up with his words as Light wordlessly transfored, his red eyes illuminating the entire dim room in a crimson glow. His grin was dangerous and showed his elongated canines quite well.

"Well then, I was hoping we could do this peacefully, but I guess you have chosen death."


	7. Chapter 7

Since Korovka didn't know how to fight all too well, Kuroneko overpowered him quickly, pinning him to the ground and quite literally ripping the earrings off his ears.

"Don't do this!" He insisted, "Ultimate power changes people,"

"Oh, believe me," Kuroneko snapped, "Nobody knows that better than me." He held the bloodied earrings in his clawed hand, putting both of them in, "Plagg, Tikki, unify!" 

And at that moment, ultimate power was his. He could change the world, bring forth the golden age Kira sought after, and maybe he could do that later, but right now, all he cared about was L, who had been gone far too long. He opened the coffin as he got ready to use his new godlike power.

_ "There is a price to pay for this," _ a voice said in his head, and he nodded,

"I'm fully aware, and I'm ready to pay it. Take the boy, Near."

_ "You don't get to choose who dies." _

That made his eyes widen in horror. He really couldn't choose. But that dread became determination as he nodded to himself. Everything would be okay once L was back.

Then he got an idea. Near was right that L wouldn't be too happy about someone dying for him, and Light didn't want to lose anyone close to him. So maybe...

"Can I take half of the injury, and he keeps the other?"

_ "Yes." _

So that was what happened, and Light collapsed as L jolted awake.

...

L took a sharp intake of air and cried out as he felt excruciating pain in his abdomen as stomach acid attacked other parts of his body. Regardless, he pushed through it and gasped when he saw Near holding an unconscious and bleeding Light.

"Near? Light?" He fell out of the coffin, tears falling at the pain, as he frantically tried to see if Light was alive. He was, but...

Tikki and Plagg emerged, "L!" Tikki said joyously, "Light took half of the injury to bring you back. Both of you need to get to the hospital, quickly, or you both will die."

Even though there was a sense of horror at what Light had done, L also found himself smiling, because there was no way Kira would risk his own life to bring back the person who could defeat him.

"Nate..." L doubled over at the pain in his abdomen, deciding to curl up next to Light, "Get help, please..." 

He heard Near get up and run downstairs for help, and the task force ran up and carried them both to the car and raced to the hospital. The last thing he saw before passing out was Watari's joyful face.

Nobody noticed Rem's prideful smile at the wise way to use the wish. As painful as it was for both parties, they would live, and nobody would die as a price.

OoOoO

When Light woke up, it was to the beeping of a heart monitor. A hospital? It took him a moment to remember what happened, and have the energy to open his eyes, and he was bombarded by the worried faces of his family and Misa.

"Light!" Misa and Sayu both hugged him, "You're awake!" 

"Ryuzaki..." Light tried to sit up, only to feel like he'd been stabbed. Well, since he'd taken half of L's wound, it made sense why he would feel that way.

His father smiled and pulled back a curtain to reveal L in another bed, still sleeping, with Near and Watari by his side. But he didn't look dead. If anything, he looked...

"Is he sick?"

His mother hesitated for a moment, "He still has some internal injuries, and stomach acid leaked out. He's fighting the infection, but the doctor said the last ten days have shown he'll pull through. Both of you have been waking up from time to time, always at different times."

"Ten days?" His father nodded,

"Near came down and said you needed help. We thought the wish hadn't worked, and you were a mess. Instead, we find both you and Ryuzaki passed out and injured, but alive. It's been a long ten days, both of you had times where we feared you wouldn't make it. But here you both are."

"I want to see him. I'm awake now," he tried to get out of bed, only for his knees to give out under him.

"Easy, Light," Misa insisted, "You just need to be patient. Ryuzaki will wake up, you just have to wait."

OoOoO

It was another two weeks before they both got out of the hospital. Since they'd both been confined to their respective beds, and L was only awake for ten minutes tops through most of it, there was no meaningful reunion, and that was beyond frustrating for Light. The dark part of his mind said he should have just sacrificed someone. That way, L would be okay upon waking. But the rest of him, the side that had blossomed upon falling in love, said L wouldn't forgive himself if someone died in his place.

L still needed help walking, and Light just wasn't allowed to parkour the city for a while. It didn't seem like the half Light had paid the price for, but he supposed that L would be weaker since he'd been dead for five years. At least there wasn't an age gap between them anymore, as Misa pointed out, not that Light had thought about or was bothered by that.

Currently, L was in the bath, and Light came in, smiling.

"Hello, Light-Kun," L said quietly, returning Light's smile, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. You?"

"No, not really." It was still a little awkward, as Light couldn't find the right words. He'd pretended to have feelings for a lot of people in his time as Kira, and had carefully planned out what to say, but one thing he loved about L was that he couldn't really plan things ten steps in advance. It was certainly more interesting than others, even if it had been annoying as hell when he was Kira. 

The question was if he would tell L the truth that he had been right all along about Kira. He knew L would like knowing he had been right, but Light also knew he could easily just throw this current Kira under the bus and get a happily ever after. 

He decided to worry about that later and bent down beside the bathtub, "I'm glad you're back. Life's been... rough... without you." He sighed, unable to look L in the eye, "I've done a lot of bad things because I was mad. I failed you." He saw L wince a little, and absently held one of his feet, "I could give you a massage if you want. I've gotten quite good at it over the years." L just smiled a little, so Light went about massaging his feet,

"Years?"

Light nodded, ashamed, "When you died, someone took your Miraculous. I admit... I may have let Kira get away thirty-seven times in an attempt to get the new Ladybug out. It took five years. Turns out, avenging your death was the thing that finally got Near to reveal himself." He looked up at L's horrified face, "But I have a suspect on who Kira is, and I can arrest her at any second if you give the word. I have no reason to not arrest Takada anymore."

L stared at him blankly for a moment, as though trying to process what he was learning, and eventually settled on, "Takada?"

"Kiyomi Takada, my ex-girlfriend from college, clearly a Kira supporter. I had been investigating her, pretending to be a Kira supporter myself, and being willing to date her. But that investigation has been on hold since your killer kidnapped Sayu, and I may have... lost it."

"Lost it?" There was a look in L's eyes that said he knew exactly what had happened, "Near told me about Mello being dead. Am I right to assume he was my killer, so you hunted him down and finished him off?"

Light's silence was all the answer L needed.

"Thank you for not killing Near to bring me back. But Light-Kun, I don't like what happened to Mello. Killing is wrong, no matter the circumstances. But..." it was L's turn to look away, "I can't say I haven't done similar things, such as throwing Lind L. Taylor under the bus."

"Neither of us is quite morally correct," Light said with a chuckle, "But the world's going to be glad you're back. Though preferably, you won't be doing Ladybug for a while, you need to recover and... I don't want to see you getting hurt again."

"You gave up on being Kira," Light froze at L's words, not having expected them so soon, "You show no regret at having killed people, and you have been able to avoid the capture of 'Kira' thirty-seven times, so clearly you have a connection. But I don't understand what changed." 

And for L, everything made sense. Why his eyes were red when the first met, changed to green right after imprisonment, and back to red after he picked up the Death Note. His eyes were showing when he had the Death Note in his possession. But the thirteen-day rule... either that rule was fake, or there was a loophole where renouncing the notebook saved you from that rule. That would make sense. 

But for some reason, L couldn't bring himself to be smug or angry. He didn't feel happy by any means, though. Saying Light had been Kira... he felt absolutely nothing saying that. Then again, he had fallen in love with Light even when he was a suspect, and as Kuroneko saw what he was like without the notebook.

Light hesitated, before sighing in surrender, "You died. That's what changed." L's eyes goaded him into explaining, so he did, "When I first got my Miraculous, I planned to kill Ladybug and achieve ultimate power. But then Misa was captured, and it was my job to bust her out. I had a whole plan, but I didn't take into account that during the fake 'execution,' I would transform and book it. That was when I started falling in love with Ladybug and trusting you. We captured Higuchi, and for a moment, I had my memories back. But something had changed. Even if you were in my way, I couldn't let you die. Though I also wanted that power, so when I saved you from a headshot, I was actually saving you _ and _ going for the earrings." As he was talking, he started massaging up L's leg, getting out any knots in his tense muscles, not really thinking about what he was doing, "But then I forgot again, and then...you died. Then I remembered again, and life just grew sad and boring. I was free to be Kira all I wanted, but it just wasn't worth it anymore. Crime had dropped by 70%, wars have stopped, the entire world had bowed down to Kira, and I was unmotivated and grieving for who was supposed to be my rival. I couldn't let you go, but I also wanted a future with you when I had you back. So I gave up on being Kira and only kept my followers dedicated enough to fill the role around because I was trying to find the earrings to save you. If that hadn't been necessary, I would have quit altogether and let it look like Higuchi was the only one."

L moaned a little when Light started massaging his back and looked up at him with the ghost of what might be a smirk, 

"I am not entirely convinced you've changed. Even if your newfound willingness to kill came from grief about my death, I'm still going to keep an eye on you. You and I are going to be together 24/7 until I am satisfied you truly have given up on being Kira. Of course, the thirteen-day rule—"

"Fake." Light said simply, "No more secrets between us. But for right now, you need to focus on getting better." He gently scooped L out of the bath, got him dressed, and placed him in bed gently. He turned to leave, but L grabbed his hand,

"Don't think that just because I have trouble walking right now that you can escape. You're staying here with me."

Sensing the double meaning, Light smiled, "Alright. I'll stay." 

Tikki, Rem, and Plagg were watching this in fascination.

"That went better than I thought," Plagg said after a moment. Tikki giggled,

"You underestimate the power of love." Rem looked down at them both,

"Take into account the fact Lawliet is still in serious pain. He may be much angrier upon recovering."

"Maybe," Tikki looked to Plagg, "But since they're permanently tied together due to wielding our Miraculous, I doubt that would be the case."

"Things would probably have gotten a lot messier if we hadn't come along," Plagg said. Misa came in, looking at her best friend asleep, holding L and the kwamis and Shinigami watching.

"So this is happily ever after, right? Light's finally happy, and Ryuzaki is back."

"It may take time," Rem said, "But yes, this could very well be the start."

"How boring," they all turned, shocked to see Ryuk. At this point, it was a miracle L, and Light didn't hear them, "Now Light's a fool in love, and now he's going to be boring."

"Ryuk, what are you doing here?" Plagg asked, "Your notebook is still buried underground somewhere."

"Not true. Someone dug it up. But I took the chance to check on Light-o since clearly his genius plan crashed and burned."

Rem groaned, "Just let them be happy, Ryuk. I'll tell them about a second active notebook later." Misa pulled out an apple and gave it to Ryuk,

"Here. Light would want you to have this." The Shinigami gleefully took the apple and flew off into the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Strangely, Light didn't find himself annoyed in the slightest that L insisted they be handcuffed together until L was convinced Kira was gone for good. Seeing as he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the detective, he didn't care at all. And it wasn't like that skintight leather as Kuroneko left anything to the imagination, so he didn't mind _that_ either.

He was a little surprised Ryuk hadn't killed him outright for not being interesting enough anymore, but he was not complaining.

The moment L was wholly convinced that Light was a changed man was when they arrested Takada, who really was Kira. She had tried to attack L, but Light transformed and took the knife blow. While this didn't hurt him since the knife wasn't enchanted and therefore shattered against his suit, L saw that Kuroneko's eyes were green again—the default Cat wielder eye color, meaning he didn't own the Death Note.

What Light had done, however, to keep his memory, was get a new watch with the strap being what used to be the cover of the Death Note, and pieces of the paper were in the metal, that way he would always keep his memories of the book without using one himself.

That was when the handcuffs came off, and L decided he did want to try out a relationship, once he recovered enough to walk on his own without a cane. Even if he had fought off the infection, there was still pain. Light got off easy since he was already okay—much to L's envy.

Misa was beneficial through all of this, and she actually made a surprisingly good detective if she was mostly following orders. As L and Lightbringer—for lack of ideas for a different alias for Light since his name also began with L—they solved many cases around the world, with Misa acting as their ticket into heavily guarded places without being suspected of being detectives.

At night, Ladybug and Kuroneko would moonlight as their superhero selves and solve crimes. There was much more fun to it when they could run through new cities without a care in the world.

Two years passed like this, and Light and L were lying in bed when L decided it was time to let Light in on a little secret. After all, they were engaged.

"Light, I think it's time I told you my real name—or, rather, let you know that it's my real name." Light sat up,

"Yeah?"

"Guess what my name is." L said, curious which of his many aliases Light would guess.

It took Light three seconds to figure it out, "Who names their child L?!" L laughed, and Light was clearly exasperated, "Seriously? Just the letter?"

"For my first name? Yes, just L. Lawliet is my surname. So my name is L Lawliet." He tapped his temple, "The best way to deceive someone is by telling them the truth."

"That and nobody would guess a parent would possibly name their child L." Light ran his hands through his hair, "I can't believe I had your first name this whole time and didn't figure it out. I was halfway to my Kira goal and didn't even know it."

"Honestly, if it had come down to me executing you, I probably would have told you my name at last minute, just to see this reaction." Light glared darkly at him, but L couldn't take it seriously, having seen the effects of catnip on this man.

"I'm glad you two are happy." They both turned and saw a tiny old man standing there. Both men shrieked, since they were in a heavily guarded room, with so many cameras and safety precautions, it wasn't even funny. How had he gotten in here?!

Tikki and Plagg flew out, "Master Fu!"

"Huh?" Light asked, and this Master Fu person smiled,

"L Lawliet and Light Yagami, you two have been an unusual pair for the Miraculous, but I will admit it worked out in the end." He sighed, "But I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye. The Miraculouses are required in France for a case involving the Miraculous, as a supervillain named Hawk Moth has appeared."

Light and L both looked to their respective kwamis, shocked that this was goodbye. The old man nodded a little,

"Light, you are the first person to not be corrupted by ultimate power—which, no offense, shocks me—and wisely used the wish. For that, you are special." He held out his hand, and Light hesitated,

"Will we forget about..." he made a cat-like gesture, and the old man chuckled,

"Will you forget your superhero selves or the Miraculous? No." Satisfied, Light reluctantly removed the ring,

"Well, Plagg, it's been an adventure. I'm gonna miss running around cities at night." L removed the earrings,

"While Tikki is nice, I'm not gonna miss her eating all my sweets." Light laughed and kissed L's cheek as the old man vanished.

L laid back down, "I can't quite believe that old man didn't think two detectives could handle a case like an honest to god supervillain. After Kira, all these other cases are boring, and catching a supervillain sounds awesome."

Light smirked, "I give it a year. If the new wielders haven't solved the Hawk Moth case, you and I get involved?" His smirk became feline, even if he wasn't the Cat wielder anymore, "I bet I could solve the case faster than you."

L glared playfully at him, "Oh, it's on, Kira! We wait one year, and then its a race to who can catch Hawk Moth first. And I already know I'm going to win because I took one look at you and immediately knew you were Kira."

Light laughed, "I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
